Katanga case: Defence lawyer challenges gun evidence, cites wrong weapon
A court session during the hearing of the murder case of the late businessman, Henry Katanga, at the High court in Kampala yesterday. The acting Director of Forensics Services was accused of examining DNA samples on a different gun and not that which allegedly ended Katanga’s life. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
The acting director Forensics Services is accused of having different serial numbers for the alleged killer pistol (a black Zestava type) in his DNA report
Police’s acting Director of Forensics Services Andrew Kizimula Mubiru was yesterday accused of examining DNA samples on a different gun and not that which ended the life of Kampala businessman Henry Katanga, late last year.
Mr MacDosman Kabega, one of the defence lawyers of the five accused persons, put it to Mr Mubiru that he had different serial numbers for the alleged killer pistol (a black Zastava type) in his DNA report, a scenario he said points to him examining a different gun just to implicate the widow in the murder.
“Mr Mubiru, I want to suggest to you, that pistol was never given to you,”Mr Kabega told the forensics expert.
He continued: “Mr Mubiru, I want to put it to you that you have no submission from the police to examine a gun which is in your report.”
But in response, the forensics expert said: “It's not correct”.
To buttress their assertions, counsel Kabega cited sections of the judgment in the infamous ritual sacrifice murder case of businessman Kato Kajubi, which saw the Court of Appeal condemn the same Mr Mubiru for having examined exhibits in totally a different case, not the one of Kato Kajubi.
“I want to suggest to you that you have this habit of examining exhibits which have not been given to you. That is the exact thing that you were cited as having done in the case of Kato Kajubi to examine an exhibit in another case,”Mr Kabega said.
He added: “So I am suggesting to you Mr Mubiru that in this case, you have examined and made a report on another gun which was not submitted to you.”
Also during the cross-examination, the defence lawyers scoffed at the forensics expert for having not carried out DNA samples on a baton and walking copper stick that were found at the scene of the crime, the master bedroom of the Katangas, on a fateful day.
The defence lawyers argued that Mr Mubiru, the eighth prosecution witness, intentionally ignored examining the said exhibits just because he knew that they would reveal that Ms Molly Katanga had been severely assaulted using them.
Mr Mubiru, who has so far been the longest prosecution witness, has appeared before the court seven times with his first appearance being on August 7.
Ms Katanga is accused of murdering her husband on November 2, last year at their matrimonial home in Mbuya in Kampala, an offence she entered a plea of not guilty. She is jointly charged alongside her two daughters Martha Nkwanzi Katanga and Patricia Kakwanza, who both face lesser charges of destroying evidence and being an accessory after the fact of murder.
The other accused persons are Charles Otai, a medic who allegedly appeared at the Katangas residence shortly after the incident, and George Amanyire, a shamba boy.
The duo also faces lesser charges of accessory after the fact of murder and destroying evidence. Further cross-examination of the forensics expert resumes next week on Tuesday.
