A protected witness Thursday told the International Crimes Division of the High Court that one of the accused persons on trial for the 2015 murder of former Senior Principal State Attorney Joan Kagezi confessed to him that he and his colleagues were given a deal to kill her.
The witness, codenamed ‘Witness D’ (for protection), testified before a panel of four justices led by Justice Andrew Bashaija, sitting with Justices Duncan Gaswaga, Joyce Kavuma, and Richard Wejuli.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Thomas Jatiko, who appeared with Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka, led the state’s 18th witness in examination.
The three accused persons John Kibuuka, John Masajage, and Nasul Mugonore were present in court and are represented by Elizabeth Nampola on state brief. The victim’s lawyer is Sylvia Namawejje.
Witness D, whose identity and residence are coded on court record, told court that he had known Masajage for over ten years, describing him as a good friend.
He said he met Masajage and the other accused persons, Kibuuka and Mugonore, while working in several villages supplying bread using bicycles.
‘In those places, we were supplying bread in different shops,” the witness said, adding that they worked together for years before parting ways when Masajage became a boda-boda rider.
The witness narrated that ‘one morning, security operatives arrested Masajage, Kibuuka, and Mugonore in one of the villages.’
‘They were brought in a vehicle and taken to the house where they used to stay. They found a basin of bullets,’ he told the court.
He added that the suspects were later taken away by security officers and he did not see them again for about five years.
When asked what he later learned about the men, the witness said, ‘When Kagezi died, we started hearing that they had killed a judge, and that is when we got to know.’
He testified that he saw a photograph of his friend Masajage among the suspects in the state-owned Bukedde newspaper and a poster pinned in his village.
‘I saw him, and I even bought the newspaper,’ he added.
According to the witness, he later met Masajage again in another village around 2021.
‘I found my friend in Village G. We talked, and I asked him about the newspaper I had seen, whether it was true,’ he said.
The witness quoted Masajage as responding: ‘Yes, it is true.’
He added that Masajage told him they were given a deal to kill Kagezi but did not reveal who offered it.
‘He told me that by killing Kagezi, they were also just given a deal,’ the witness testified.
Pressed by prosecution to explain further, the witness said Masajage mentioned other participants in the operation, including Kibuuka, Mugonore, and a one Dan Kiseka.
‘He told me they followed the judge from Kampala up to Kiwatule,’ the witness said.
‘When she stopped at a supermarket to buy things for home, they used that opportunity and ended her life. He told me they shot her with bullets.’
The court heard that Kagezi, who was at the time leading prosecutions in high-profile terrorism cases, was gunned down in March 2015 in Kiwatule, Kampala, as she stopped to buy groceries on her way home.
The court adjourned the hearing to October 24, 2025, for further proceedings.