The High court last week concluded hearing the evidence-in-chief from the 16th prosecution witness in the high-profile murder case of Uganda vs. Molly Katanga and four others.
The witness, a radio manager at Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), supervises the transcription and translation of news and official documents in English, Luganda, and Rutooro. Her name has been withheld at the prosecution’s request. In court, she testified that she had overseen and reviewed the transcription of a crime scene reconstruction video featuring George Amanyire, the Katanga family’s house help.
The video captured Amanyire recounting the events surrounding the death of businessman Henry Katanga, who died from a gunshot wound at the family home in Mbuya on November 2, 2023. The witness explained that the request for transcription and translation services came from Jinja Road police station.
Standard procedure was followed, and Peter Akuguzimwe Alari, a former UBC correspondent, was assigned to transcribe the video.
“As a standard procedure, we sat together with a police officer to listen to and view the video. After confirming the audio was clear, I assigned Alari to transcribe it,” she said.
She added that a soft copy of the transcription was submitted to her for review before the final report was printed. While Alari has since left UBC, she told court she could still recognize his signature, having worked closely with him.
AMANYIRE’S ACCOUNT OF THE FIGHT
Following the witness’s background, prosecutor Jonathan Muwaganya asked her to read the transcription report aloud in court. The contents detailed Amanyire’s statement to investigating officer Bibiana Akong. Amanyire described the evening of November 1, 2023, as normal.
He said Molly Katanga returned home at around 6:00 p.m., exercised in the parking area, visited a neighbor—Afande Burundi— and returned around 8:00 p.m. Later, Henry Katanga arrived at approximately 9:00 p.m., and the couple had tea together before Molly went to the prayer room.
“They had evening tea together, and there seemed to be no argument between them,” Amanyire said.
The following morning, on November 2, Amanyire said he woke at 6:30 a.m. and began his usual chores. While washing cars around 7:00 a.m., he heard loud noises from the upstairs bedroom. The sounds resembled shouting, crying, and someone being beaten with a stick.
“I went to the house to ask the chef if he had heard anything, but he said he hadn’t. I went upstairs and knocked, but no one responded,” Amanyire recalled.
He then fetched Denise Nayebare Kayenje, who was bathing at the time. Together, they returned upstairs and heard crying from behind the bedroom door. They tried calling Martha Nkwanzi and Patricia Kankwazi, the daughters of the Katangas, hoping their intervention might defuse the situation.
According to Amanyire, the fighting resumed even as they were making the calls. At one point, Kayenje knocked and pretended to be Martha. Henry Katanga responded, asking who it was, but continued beating his wife.
Molly’s cries intensified. “I knocked on the door again with force, but the fighting didn’t stop,” Amanyire said.
Soon after, they heard a loud noise— described as something like glass breaking—twice. Molly continued crying.
“Throughout the altercation, the only time we heard Mr. Katanga speak was when he asked who was at the door,” Amanyire said.
Moments later, Amanyire heard Molly faintly calling his name. He rushed upstairs and found a trail of blood from the master bedroom to a bathroom in the adjacent bedroom. Inside, Molly lay naked, covered in blood, with fractured fingers and a cracked skull.
“Out of respect, I turned to walk away, but she called me back. She told me she had bled so much and was going to die. She asked me to call her daughters and have them take her to the hospital,” he told the court.
Amanyire added that the blood patterns suggested she had leaned against the wall before crawling to the bathroom. When Martha and Patricia arrived, they dressed their mother, and with help from Amanyire and the chef, carried her to the car and took her to the hospital.
CROSS-EXAMINATION RAISES QUESTIONS
During cross-examination, the witness struggled to explain discrepancies between the video footage and the transcription. Defense lawyer Jet Tumwebazze questioned her about omissions, particularly on page 55 of the transcript.
“In the video, Molly Katanga said she had over-bled and was going to die. Why wasn’t that part included in the report?” Tumwebazze asked.
“My lord, it could have been an omission,” the witness responded.
Defense lawyer Macdusman Kabega pressed further, challenging her qualifications.
“Do you agree with me that you only have working knowledge of Rutooro and English? That you’re not an expert?” Kabega asked.
The witness was also questioned about her inability to recall the name of the police officer who delivered the video to UBC. Despite claiming she had viewed the video with this officer, she could not identify them.
Kabega then turned to the language used in the video, asking why a Luganda transcription had not been provided, even though the request form included it. The witness responded that Luganda was not among the languages used in the footage.
“The video was only in Rutooro,” she said.
Kabega also attempted to confirm whether the video identified Molly Katanga as the only injured person. However, prosecutor Muwaganya objected, stating the witness was not in a position to verify such facts.
“The witness cannot confirm whether what was said in the video is the truth,” Muwaganya said.
With this testimony, the court concluded the evidence-in-chief of the 16th prosecution witness. The case is scheduled to resume for further hearing on June 10, 2025.
You can’t beat and then die at the same time, Molly killed the man stop dressing it
With death in sight, that can be taken as self defence.
From the house worker Amanyire, you can presume that there was a fight in the bedroom between two people in there, but the question still lingers on who pulled the trigger.
if the man beat her like that, could she have, in defense, picked up the gun and shot, or was the man the first to pick up the gun, and the woman overpowered her? The worker and his daughter were prohibited from entering the room.
(This is no joke)
You guys are so greedy that you have even taken over the poor man and failures’ traits of beating their wives…seriously that was a poor man’s way of punishing his wife, I would expect Mr. Katanga to just reduce his wife’s allowance, seriously…we work hard to get money so that we can get our pick of Ugandan women and women in general…what was wrong with this guy ?
Beating up your wife ?
Didn’t he have a side dish to calm him down ?
These shamba boys also, if your boss is rich and still beats his wife, what will he do to you ?