Court warns jailed Soroti DISO's family over murder case interference

Soroti Magistrate's court has warned the family of Stephen Nuwagira,  the jailed Soroti district internal security officer (DISO) against involving external forces to influence the case instituted against him.

This came up when Nuwagira appeared before the court for the third mention of the case in which he's accused of killing an engineer with Access Solar in Soroti, Cedric Kayiwa last year on December 20.

After the mention of the case by the grade one magistrate Edmund Okiror Okwi, state attorney, Dan Kiduma rose to his feet to warn Nuwagira's family to desist from engaging the media, the state, and other government bodies to interfere with the case.

“We pray for another date of mention so that we conclusively investigate this matter. Your honour, it’s also our request that the accused and his relatives desist from holding press interviews on this matter until we conclude with the inquiries," Kiduma said.

He explained that Nuwagira's family has on several occasions complained about the accused being denied bail and other rights to the state and other government agencies that he declined to name in court. Nuwagira’s family, through the Daily Monitor article of January 21, accused the government and security agencies of laxity in handling his case.

According to the accused's family, Nuwagira was on duty when he shot dead Kayiwa for allegedly trying to disarm him after the arrest. The family in the article headed “We’ve been betrayed, a family of jailed Soroti DISO laments” notes that the DISO had been tipped off by informers that Kayiwa was involved in electricity vandalism that had rocked the sub-region.

The family of the deceased early this month asked for the interdiction of the jailed DISO and compensation since Kayiwa was the sole breadwinner in his family. Through their lawyers, Premier Advocates Attorneys and Legal Consultants, the family threatened to institute a civil suit for compensation and damages.

Nuwagira has been on remand since December 23, 2022. He will reappear in court for another mention on February 7.