Three court assessors have advised the Masaka High Court to acquit two men accused of setting fire to a dormitory at St Bernard Secondary School, Maanya, in Rakai District, where 10 students died.
Alex Mugarura and Edison Niyo are facing multiple charges, including murder, arson and attempted arson, over the November 2018 school fire.
The assessors said the prosecution had failed to produce substantive evidence linking the accused to the fire, despite proving some of the elements of arson and attempted arson.
The assessors presented their joint opinion to a packed Masaka High Court on the afternoon of September 10 before the Resident Judge, Justice Victoria Nakintu Katamba.
Mariam Tusiime, who delivered the opinion on behalf of the assessors, said the prosecution had failed to prove that the accused participated in the fire.
She said although the State had proved the ingredients of arson and attempted arson, it had failed to establish the accused persons’ participation in the offences.
The assessors questioned why the accused, who were suspended students, were not seen at the school on the night of the fire despite the presence of school administrators, teachers on duty, wardens and private security guards. They also raised concerns about evidence given by the former officer in charge of Maanya Police Station and investigating officer, Goffin Butere.
According to the assessors, Mr Butere told court that a witness identified only as Yusuf had seen Mugarura and Niyo at the school playground running from the scene towards Kabuye’s home. They said Yusuf should have been called to testify because his evidence could have helped establish whether the accused were at the scene.
The assessors also questioned the prosecution’s failure to produce a laboratory report on exhibits allegedly recovered from Mr Niyo’s home.
‘The investigating officer told the court that among the exhibits gotten from Edison’s house-plastic bottles and shoes-were submitted to the Government Analytical Laboratory (GAL) for analysis, but they never received a report of the findings from GAL,’ Ms Tusiime said.
‘It is quite unfortunate that such a big case, which involved the death of several students, can take such a period of time without getting a report from GAL. We observe that it could be a lie that the items were submitted to GAL, or the report was never produced,’ she added.
The assessors also questioned the circumstances under which the suspended students, including the accused, were evicted from the guest house where they had been staying. They said one of the State witnesses told court that police, allegedly acting on the orders of the school administration, instructed the management of Butefu Guest House to evict the suspended students.
The assessors said this left the students with no option but to spend the night wherever they could find shelter. They suggested that the move could have been linked to the school’s internal wrangles and possibly an attempt to frame the accused.
‘We observe that the wrangles amongst the management of the school and staff may have been the major cause of the tragedy, but police never dug into it,’ Ms Tusiime said.
‘Given the above observation, we find that the prosecution failed to successfully place the accused persons at the scene of the crime and therefore advise the court to acquit them and set them free,’ she said.
Defence welcomes opinion
Sam Ssekyewa, a lawyer representing the accused, told journalists shortly after the session that he welcomed the assessors’ opinion.
He said the opinion reinforced the defence’s argument that there was no evidence placing the accused at the scene of the fire.
Justice Katamba adjourned the case to October 5, when the court is expected to deliver its ruling.
Background
The prosecution alleges that Mugarura, Niyo and others who are still at large, on November 11, 2018, at St Bernard’s Secondary School, Maanya, in Rakai District, killed Remigius Tamale and nine other students in a dormitory fire.
According to the amended charge sheet, the two accused face 50 counts, including murder, attempted murder, arson and attempted arson, among other charges.
In 2024, the court acquitted Moses Taremwa, who had been jointly charged with the two men.
Another co-accused, Dickson Kisule, was acquitted in June this year after the court established that he was in police custody at the time of the fire.