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Molly Katanga’s surety denies obstructing police work
Ms Molly Katanga, the woman accused of killing Henry Katanga, appears at Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court where she was charged with the murder of her husband in February 2024. PHOTO/ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Its prosecution’s case that Ms Katanga on November 2, 2023 at Mbuya, Chwa 2, in Nakawa Division, with malice aforethought, caused the death of her husband.
Mr Geoffrey Kamuntu is accused of obstructing the work of police when they stormed the theatre at C-Care, IHK where Ms Molly Katanga was admitted following the November 2, 2023 shooting incident that left her husband dead.
But in his April 2 affidavit, filed before the Criminal Division of the High Court, Mr Kamuntu said he had never been summoned by the police for obstructing their work.
“I have never been summoned to answer for the alleged obstruction of police work but I know that neither I nor anyone associated with me obstructed police. I simply documented their military-style invasion of a hospital theatre,” Mr Kamuntu said.
The affidavit further details that he is the next of kin to Ms Katanga and that when she was admitted at IHK on December 2, 2023, the police were stationed in her Intensive Care Unit until she was discharged on January 24.
“The only disagreement I had with the police was on December 12, 2023 when police officers forced their way into the theatre where Molly was undergoing neurosurgical reconstructive surgery on her head, which lasted for over five hours. Uniformed and plain-clothed police officers forced their way into the theatre,” Mr Kamuntu stated.
He added: “On seeing the military-style invasion of a hospital theatre, I took out my telephone and began to take pictures. I was asked by the police to hand over my phone or delete the photographs and when I declined, I was physically and verbally assaulted, threatened with arrest, and accused of obstruction of police work.”
Further, Mr Kamuntu claims that on that same day in the evening, he was surrounded and put at gunpoint by eight police officers and that he was informed that his actions of taking pictures of the police doing their work amounted to cyberbullying and that they had come to arrest him.
“They (eight police officers) informed me that if I resisted arrest, they would use other means to arrest me and take me to Jinja Road Police Station. However, [the doctor] at IHK pleaded with them to allow me monitor the patient,” he said.
Last week on Wednesday, presiding judge Isaac Muwata heard the bail application for Ms Katanga and reserved his ruling for today.
The other sureties that Ms Katanga lined up to bail her out such that she can get specialised treatment for the injuries she sustained during the brawl are John Patrick Kaboyo, a retired civil servant, Emmanuel Nyamunywanisa, a retired army officer, and Ms Margaret Muhanga Mugisa, the State Minister for Health.
Background
Its prosecution’s case that Ms Katanga on November 2, 2023 at Mbuya, Chwa 2, in Nakawa Division, with malice aforethought, caused the death of her husband.
She is jointly charged with her two daughters Martha Nkwanzi Katanga and Patricia Kakwanza, both of whom are facing lesser charges of destroying evidence.
The other accused persons are Otai Charles, a nurse, and George Amanyire, a shamba boy who face the charge of accessory after the fact of murder. All the co-acussed of Ms Katanga are out on bail.
