Prosecution has concluded and closed its submissions in the trial of two people accused of burning the dormitory of St Bernard Secondary School, Manya, in Rakai in 2018.
Appearing before Masaka High Court Judge Lady Justice Victoria Nakintu, Goffin Butere, the investigating officer, told court that they never received the report from the Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratory (DGAL), where they submitted some of the exhibits seized from one of the accused, Niyo Edison, on his arrest.
Butere had presented to court several exhibits, including suspected shirts and trousers of the accused persons which were obtained from Edison’s house, and broken padlocks which were reportedly locked on the dormitory on the fateful night.
However, he could not present a bottle said to have contained traces of paraffin suspected to have been used in the burning of the dormitory as he had promised in the last court sitting, saying that the bottle, laptop, among other items, were never returned by DGAL where they were submitted for further examination.
“The plastic bottle was never returned, and we never received a report from DGAL showing the findings they got after examining the items police had sent them,” he said.
Butere, the last state witness, also found it hard to convince court why the accused person was in court since he did not have evidence connecting the accused to the crime scene, as the statements of the accused persons and those of the people who recorded statements following the incident did not directly connect them to the crime scene.
The defense lawyer Sam Ssekyewa told court that statements recorded by teachers and neighbours of the school had information that could have led police to the actual people behind the burning of the school dormitory, but they were ignored by police for unknown reasons, and they ended up concentrating only on the suspended students.
“Almost all the statements that were recorded by teachers, including the neighbour of the school, pointed to the unrest in the school following the issuance of a directive that required all staff teachers and support staff to reapply for their jobs which did not go down well with the staff. This is witnessed by the writings unknown people wrote on the typed notice on the notice board (NO NO application). In fact out of the 52 staff only 2 had reapplied by the time of the inferno but all this was not considered by police who decided to go for the ‘nobody’ suspended students,” he said.
The prosecution, led by Michael Wakosese, in concluding its case had tendered in court the list of exhibits reportedly seized from Niyo’s house, save the laptop bag, which was not tendered in court, and Mugarura’s suspension letter, which had also been reportedly obtained from Niyo’s home.
“As prosecution, we have closed our case, and we pray the accused persons are put on their defense,” Wakosese told court.
The presiding judge, however, adjourned the matter to August 31, when she will deliver her ruling on whether the accused persons have a case to answer or not, further remanding the accused persons to Masaka Main Prison.
Prosecution alleges that the accused persons, Alex Mugarura, Edison Niyo, and others still at large, on November 11, 2018, at St Bernard’s SS Manya in Rakai District, killed Remigious Tamale and nine other students in a school dormitory fire.
According to the amended charge sheet, the duo is facing 50 counts, including murder, attempted murder, arson, and attempted arson, among other charges.
In 2024, the court acquitted Moses Taremwa, who was jointly charged with the duo, and their other co-accused was acquitted in June this year after the court established that Dickson Kisule was in police custody at the time of the inferno.