In the fifth part of our summary capturing what all 25 witnesses said in a case where Molly Katanga is being tried for the murder of her husband, Henry Katanga, on November 2, 2023, we capture what experts from the Uganda Police Force and Naome Nyangweso said while on the stand.
Molly is facing trial together with her two daughters-Martha Katanga and Patricia Kakwanzi-as well as a medical worker Charles Otai and long-serving Katanga shamba boy George Amanyire.
The latter four are facing charges relating to evidence tampering and being accessories after the fact.
The court will render a decision on February 19, 2026 as to whether the prosecution has established a prima facie case against the accused persons. Below is a summary of what witnesses 17, 18 and 19 told the court.
Emmanuel Odong
The 30-year-old police officer who has been in police since 2019, Odong testified in June, 2025.
At the time, he was a police officer attached to the Directorate of ICT – National Command and Control Centre at the Police headquarters in Naguru, where he works as a CCTV analyst. His job is to analyse CCTV footage, write reports and tender evidence in the courts. He holds a diploma in Computer Science from Kampala International University (KIU) and certificates in software development and cybersecurity.
In this case, he was instructed by his supervisor, SP Vincent Etuket, to join the investigating team at the Katanga residence on Chwa II Road, Mbuya on November 2, 2023, the day Henry died. He was led to the CCTV room by Ms Kakwanzi, one of the Katanga daughters. They were given passwords, reviewed the footage and identified the persons in the footage.
He said there were some missing events when electricity went off. This was explained by the defence as a result of Umeme units getting spent but the CCTV recording was restored as soon as the power token was bought. They provided a letter from Umeme and a copy of the account statement to back up their claims.
Mr Odong also analysed police and private CCTV footage in the neighbourhood of the Katanga residence. He spoke about the time Mr Otai entered the Katanga household with a backpack, the time the ambulance took Molly to hospital, as well as the time the funeral van took Henry’s body to the mortuary.
He showed footage of a car entering the Katanga residence at 7.23am, most likely one in which the Katanga daughters arrived, and then another car driving out towards Bugolobi Medical Centre at 7.35am, most likely the one that rushed Molly to that medical centre for first aid.
Mr Odong then told the court, on cross examination, that he saw footage of an ambulance that had Molly approaching IHK at 8.05am. On re-examination, he was asked if he could tell that CCTV footage had been tampered with and he said no.
Aisha Birungi
Ms Birungi is a detective, who at the time she testified in June 2025, was attached to parliamentary police. She has been in the police for more than 35 years. She’s said to have collected the samples from Molly’s palms, fingers and mouth that were used for analysis of DNA and Gunshot Residue (GSR).
The State is hoping to rely on this evidence to link Molly to the killer gun. The argument being that the presence of her DNA and presence of traces of GSR on her somehow proves she fired the gun.
Ms Birungi’s evidence in chief was led by Chief Prosecutor Jonathan Muwaganya.
Back in November 2023, she said she was a Scene-of-Crime-Officer (SOCO) attached to Kabalagala Police Station in the IHK vicinity.
As a SOCO, her job entailed: viewing scenes of crime, fingerprinting, collecting vital evidence from the crime scene, making reports and going to court to testify in case there’s need. She said on November 2, 2023, she was called by her boss to go to IHK to take samples from a murder suspect, Molly, who she said was admitted there in the ICU.
Ms Birungi said she arrived at the hospital around 2pm, signed in at the main gate, went to the reception where she met with a one nurse Flavia and then later was introduced to a Dr Brian, whose office she went to.
She then signed a visitors’ book and was ushered into the ICU where Molly lay on bed ‘without any life support machines.’
Ms Birungi then said nurse Flavia showed her a light-skinned lady whose entire arms were wrapped in bandages. She was asleep.
Ms Birungi didn’t greet or talk to Molly because she’d been told not to.
Ms Birungi went ahead to swab the palms of her hands and got a buccal (mouth) swab, which she said was meant to get her DNA.
On cross examination led by Mr Elison Karuhanga of Kampala Associated Advocates, Ms Birungi seemed to walk back the claim that she signed in the book at the main gate, saying instead she signed in a one ‘Dr Brian’s’ office book.
At the instruction of his client, Mr Karuhanga put it to her that there wasn’t a Dr Brian on Molly’s care team and there might not be one at IHK.
In a dramatic twist, Mr Karuhanga pulled out a medical chart from the hospital and put it to Ms Birungi that at the time she said to have seen Molly in the ICU, between 2pm and 3pm, the matriarch of the Katanga household was in fact in theatre having an operation and was only brought to ICU at 5pm.
The defence counsel consequently wondered how Ms Birungi could have swabbed Molly’s hands that she said were wrapped to the tip or how she could shove ‘things in her mouth’ without incident.
The defence said there’s no record of Ms Birungi having gone to IHK since she neither provided proof of registration nor a photo or video of her at the scene or one of the scene itself.
The defence called her entire evidence ‘fabricated’ and in a particularly feisty exchange, MacDusman Kabega, who seemed exasperated, because the witness couldn’t recall the time she left her duty station for IHK, didn’t record it, couldn’t remember when she handed over exhibits to the Lead Investigator DSP Bibiana Akong and couldn’t provide any specific details as to time and place, which compelled Kabega to call Birungi’s conduct of the process ‘incompetence.’
The witness was asked on re-examination by Jonathan Muwaganya why she didn’t take a single picture or even video during her alleged time in Molly’s ICU room.
Ms Birungi said she had been stopped by a one Dr Brian.
Asked why she didn’t take fingerprints, she said: ‘My Lord, I was not allowed by the doctor to do anything to the suspect’.
She said for her to take fingerprints, she needed to have made Molly sit up in her bed and that this wasn’t allowed by Dr Brian. She couldn’t identify Dr Brian or nurse Flavia beyond mentioning their first names.
Ms Birungi also didn’t take their IDs and neither did she know their second names. When asked by Mr Muwaganya why she hadn’t taken their identification documents, she said ‘they’d been introduced to her so she saw no need of taking their IDs.’
When asked how she managed to swab the palms of Molly (despite her hands being wrapped in a cast to the fingertips), she said she slipped a swab ‘underneath the bandage’ and swabbed the palm of her hands.
Rashida Naluzze
She is a regional CID officer in her late 30s, currently stationed at Busoga North Regional Headquarters. She was previously stationed at Katwe police post. Her Evidence-in-Chief given before presiding Judge Rosette Comfort Kania, was led by Chief State Attorney, Jonathan Muwaganya.
In a rather stunning revelation, Ms Naluzze told court that the DPP charged Molly with murder long before she had her statement. Molly was, at the time of the charges, in IHK (hospital) fighting for her life.
According to Molly’s medical team at the hospital, she was admitted in hypovolemic shock, had multiple injuries to the head and had broken limbs. They had to amputate one of her fingers because it couldn’t be salvaged.
Ms Naluzze, quoting Molly’s doctors, said the latter couldn’t record a statement back in November 2023 due to multiple challenges with her health.
The same was recorded in January 2024 after an independent medical examination had been done that found Molly in good enough health and cognitive state to record a statement. In the statement, Molly said she’d learnt of her husband’s death in hospital, she had been in an uninterrupted marriage with Henry until his death.
She added that her lawyers, Bruce Musinguzi, Jet and Kabega, had informed her while in hospital that she had been charged with murder. She refused to go into details of the events leading to the death of her husband, saying whoever charged her with murder should say how she is supposed to have done it. She didn’t know. Molly spoke about the people she stayed with in her household, including a young son. She said the rest would be said in court.
Evidence
CCTV footage
Showed several vehicles, including an ambulance and a funeral van, entering and leaving the Katanga home on the morning of November 2, 2023.
Contained gaps caused by a power outage; recording resumed after electricity units were bought.
CCTV footage was not tampered with.
DNA and Gunshot Residue (GSR) samples
Swabs were taken from Molly Katanga’s palms, fingers and mouth for DNA and GSR analysis when she was admitted in hospital.
No clear record was produced showing when the samples were handed over to investigators.
Medical charts showed Molly was in theatre between 2pm and 3pm on November 2, 2023.
She was transferred to ICU at about 5pm
No hospital visitor registration records were produced to confirm when the samples were taken.
No photographs or video recordings were presented to document the sample collection process.
Charging timeline evidence
Records showed Molly was charged with murder before a formal police statement was recorded from her.
Her statement was later taken in January 2024 after medical clearance.