A month into the murder trial of Andrew ‘Desh’ Kananura, state witnesses have so far failed to place the businessman and his four co-accused at the scene of crime.
They are accused of fatally beating Badru Kateregga, a former employee of Panamera bar and restaurant on September 30 2012. The bar is owned by Kananura. Kateregga was beaten for allegedly stealing Shs 30,000. Kananura is charged along with his brother Raymond Kananura, Cyrus Maganda, a security guard Samuel Muzulewa and Jacob Onyango.`
In his testimony on Thursday, Davis Pande, the lead police investigating officer, told High court trial justice Joseph Murangira that police never collected blood samples, foot and fingerprints from the scene.
Such samples would have been relevant to place the accused at the scene of crime. Pande, who was being cross-examined by defence lawyers led by the former director of criminal investigation, Chris Bakiza, blamed the omission on the scene of crime officer.
“The scene of crime officer didn’t collect blood, fingerprints or footprints,” Pande said. “It was very difficult to collect the blood samples since unknown people had tampered with the scene.”
Earlier, during his evidence-in-chief, Pande said that on arriving at Panamera bar, they found small dots of blood since there were attempts by the accused to wash it away.
“The scene of crime had been tampered with but the body [Kateregga’s] had body bruises,” Pande said.
Asked by Bakiza if he collected footage from the Panamera bar cameras, Pande said the day Kateregga was killed, the cameras were disconnected.
But when pressed by Bakiza on how many cameras where at the bar, Pande said, “I saw one [camera].”
“But we did not care about the camera that much,” he added.
Pande also revealed that from the scene, they recovered a wallet owned by one Kenneth Kirenzi who survived the scuffle. “Kirenzi came at police [Kira Road] and said it was his because he survived the beating.”
PERSONAL INTEREST
Pande denied Bakiza’s accusation that he personally investigated the murder because he had an axe to grind with Kananura. Bakiza asked him why, in his police statement, Pande had dubbed the case “high-profile.”
“The case involved a person [Kananura] who is famous in the county,” Pande explained.
“That’s why I called it high-profile. I have nothing personal against Desh.”
Kananura’s trial has not been an easy one, with reports often being peddled around that security agencies wanted to kill the case. On January 19, 2013, there was a public outcry when it emerged that Kananura had sneaked out of the country after Kateregga’s death.
Kananura was then arrested at Entebbe airport upon his return from the UK. Three days later, he was charged and remanded to Luzira prison for murder. In February, 2013, the High court released him, together with the other suspects, on a Shs 20 million bail.
On March 15, 2016, Justice Wilson Masalu Musene withdrew from hearing the case, citing a story written in a local tabloid claiming that the judge had a personal interest in the case.
He was replaced by Justice Murangira and hearing of the case continued. So far, the prosecution has produced eight witnesses before the court.
dkiyonga@observer.ug