Almost two years after Henry Katanga met his death at his home in the Kampala suburb of Mbuya, the prosecution this past week wound up its case after presenting about 25 witnesses.
The State hopes the witnesses’ testimonies will be enough to convince Justice Rosette Comfort Kania that Molly Katanga, Henry Katanga’s widow, is liable.
On the other hand, the defence-with its high-profile cast of lawyers such as Peter Kabatsi, John Jet Tumwebaze, Elison Karuhanga from Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA) and MacDosman Kabega-are submitting that the accused, who also include Henry’s daughters (Patricia Kakwanza and Martha Nkwanzi), Dr Charles Otai and George Amanyire, the family’s shamba boy, deemed to have tampered with evidence, should be freed forthwith.
Although in criminal cases a High Court judge is supposed to have a physical look at all the witnesses, Justice Kania hasn’t been able to do so because some of them were heard by Justice Isaac Muwata. The latter recused himself from the case, citing health reasons.
Once Justice Kania took over the case, there was some expectation that she would recall the witnesses who had appeared before Justice Muwata, but she never pursued that arrangement, instead deciding to continue from where her sickly colleague had left off.
Murder or suicide?
When Justice Kania took over the case, it emerged through the State witnesses that though the then Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Jane Abodo sanctioned the file charging Molly with murder in November 2023, it remained empty. This was until January 2024 when David Beteise, an investigative officer, filed his report.
Therein, Beteise ruled out the possibility that Henry committed suicide. First, the defence lawyers took issue with the fact that the DPP had committed the accused to the High Court for trial without any supporting evidence from police or any other relevant persons.
‘We wonder on what basis the DPP determined that the accused committed the crimes they committed, yet by the time she sanctioned the charges, the file was empty,’ Karuhanga said.
Beteise, who was part of the bevvy of police officers who visited the Katanga house in the aftermath of the shooting, said he ruled out the possibility of suicide after having a look at the crime scene-the Katanga bedroom.
Beteise claimed that most suicide gunshot wounds are found in accessible parts like the ear, cheek or chest, unlike in Henry’s case, where the gunshot was found in the head.
The defence, however, disclosed that the police Form Three that the police officer filled thereafter indicated that he was investigating both murder and suicide.
‘Mr Beteise, you ruled out suicide. On November 9, you were still indicating suicide. I’m asking you personally, not others, you; what information you personally came across after 9th of November that made you rule out suicide?’ Karuhanga asked. Beteise responded: ‘As me, there’s no other information I had, as me.’
When Karuhanga asked him if he made his statement after Abodo had preferred the murder charges against Molly, Beteise responded, ‘yes, my Lord.’
Unlike the defence that insists that Henry shot himself after allegedly battering Molly to near-death, the State insists that Henry was shot dead. The State says this is supported by the failure of investigators to find a bullet marking anywhere on the side where the bullet exited Henry’s head.
In fact, Beteise told Justice Kania that when he surveyed the Katanga bedroom, he didn’t find any bullet marks on the wall, floor or anywhere other than the one mark by the ceiling. The State says once the bullet left Henry’s head, it hit the ceiling, thus leaving a hole.
Beteise told the court the entry hole of the bullet that hit Katanga was above the ear to the left, and the exit was to the right through the ear.
Is left as strong as right?
In wanting to rule out suicide, Beteise claimed that since Henry was right-handed, it’s not possible that he shot himself using his left hand. He argued that Henry’s left hand couldn’t generate sufficient power to shoot himself.
That State’s claims prompted the right-handed Karuhanga to ask for the very pistol that was used in the killing to demonstrate that, with his left hand, which is theoretically deemed to be weaker, he can generate enough power to pull the trigger.
The State also found itself in a spot of bother after the leading investigators in the case, Beteise and Bibiana Akongo, gave contradictory evidence when it came to fingerprints.
While Akongo, who led the investigations, informed Justice Kania’s court that they didn’t take fingerprints or nail clippings from Henry’s body, Beteise said they took Katanga’s fingerprints and nail clippings, but ‘they were swept away.’
Were Molly’s fingers swabbed?
The defence led by Kabega insisted that swabbing Katanga’s fingers would have been critical in establishing whether Henry had fired the gun. The post-mortem report, which is now part of the court records, indicated that Henry’s fingerprints and nail clippings were taken. When the defence tasked the police officer to explain the location of those samples and the results, Beteise said while the pathologist’s report indicated that they had been taken by a colleague, he wasn’t around when that happened.
Another sticking point emerged from the evidence. Andrew Mubiru, the Director of Forensics in the police, said he wasn’t certain about the nature of the DNA found on the pistol that ended Henry’s life. Though in the summary of evidence that the DPP filed in court when the accused were committed to the High Court indicated Molly’s DNA was found on the pistol, Mubiru said he couldn’t tell if the nature of the DNA was skin cells, saliva, sweat or blood.
Mubiru further shocked court goers when he said what he knew was that the DNA found on the pistol was of a human being, but he couldn’t tell who exactly it was.
‘I can’t tell the activity that resulted in the depositing of the DNA. I can’t tell the time the DNA was deposited. I can’t tell how it was deposited,’ Mubiru said.
Another contest is whether the state actually swabbed Molly when she was admitted to the International Hospital Kampala (IHK) shortly after the fight, which ended her husband’s life.
Akongo, once again, was on the spot when she claimed that she found her way into IHK to swab Molly’s bandaged hands.
Without evidence, Akongo claimed that she found Molly seated on her hospital bed, tweeting away on her phone, with a ladder waiting outside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) window to smooth her escape.
Akongo questioned
The kind of evidence Akongo was giving prompted the defence to take an aggressive stance against her, including asserting that she had no specialised training in homicide.
Akongo, defence lawyers said, had just a general police induction training.
This compelled Akongo to admit that she had no expertise in guns, contrary to an earlier claim. With that, defence lawyers challenged Akongo to point out any Ugandan case she knows or has worked on, outside this one, where a civilian woman has been accused of killing someone by shooting. Akongo responded that there was none.
With the State showing that Henry knew how to operate a gun, Akongo, who was facing a barrage of questions from the defence lawyers, admitted that there was no evidence to prove that Molly knew how to fire a gun.
Akongo’s evidence was also contradicted by another State witness, Aisha Birungi, a Scene-of-Crime Officer, who told the court that she found Molly in the same hospital with all arms bandaged all the way to the fingertips, and she still managed to swab her hands.
Birungi, however, found herself on the back foot when the defence lawyers revealed that her name isn’t indicated in the IHK visitation book. Birungi said by the time she found her way into Molly’s room at IHK, her caretaker or the physicians weren’t around.
Background
On November 2, 2023, Katanga was found dead at his residence in Mbuya, Kampala, following what is believed to have been a domestic altercation with his wife, Molly.