We saw Susan Magara 'killer' picking bag with ransom – witnesses

One of the suspects in the murder of Susan Magara was seen picking a bag containing the ransom which the kidnappers demanded from the family, witnesses have revealed.

Two prosecution witnesses Monday testified that they saw one of the suspects; Abubaker Kyewolwa picking up the bag and a mobile telephone which was dropped in the middle of the road at Ndejje-Kanaaba in Makindye-Ssabagabo, Wakiso District.

Mr Wasswa Ssegawa, a builder, and a resident of Kanaaba-Ndejje Village testified that on February 24, 2018, at about 10:00am or 11:00am while seated at some shop talking with three other people, they had already seen Kyewolwa leaning on a container while talking on phone but did not mind him though he looked new in the area.

“After a while I saw a lady walking with a backpack (bag) which she placed in the middle of the road together with a mobile phone she was talking on. She by-passed the man (Kyewolwa) who was wearing a hooded - jumper but the face and the beard were clearly seen. He picked up the bag and the phone and walked towards Ndejje-Zanta,” Mr Ssegawa, the ninth prosecution witness testified.

He added: “We never spoke to the man as he was new in the area but when he picked the bag, we shouted at him asking where he was taking the lady's bag and he (suspect) replied that they were together.”

The witness told the court that at first, they wondered if the lady had dropped fetishes (witchcraft) and they did not follow up Kyewolya until police contacted them during investigations.

Kyewolya is jointly charged with eight other people over the kidnap and murder of Susan Magara who was a Cashier at Bwendero Dairy Farm.

Other suspects are; Yususf Lubega, Hussein Wasswa, Muzamiru Ssali, Hajara Nakandi, Mahad Kisalita, Hassan Kato Miiro, Ismail Bukenya and Musa Abbas Buvumbo.  

Another witness; Ms Jane Makumbi, a housewife testified that sometime in February 2018 at about 11am, as she was washing clothes, she saw a tall-slim lady dropping a bag and a phone in the middle of the road.

Ms Makumbi said that she did not see the person who picked up the bag but later heard that there were people who saw a man picking up the bag and the phone.

Mr Frank Nyakairu, an investigator attached to the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) testified that he knew all the suspects after getting information that the kidnappers had called Susan Magara’s mother thus leading to the tracking of the suspects on the phone leading to their arrests.

They testified before the High Court Judge Alex Ajiji.

Prosecution case

The prosecution led by Ms Irene Nakimbugwe and Mr Joseph Kyomuhendo states that the suspects in jail and others still at large on February 7, 2018, kidnapped Magara, a cashier at Bwedero Dairy Farm (BDF) with intent to procure a ransom or benefit from her liberation from the danger of being murdered.

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