Patrick Tenywa had had a long and tedious court battle over a piece of land which had many squatters at Bulwamaza zone in Kitayungwa Sub-county, Kamuli District. Like many land cases in court, it took very long to be disposed of. Finally in 2005, court ruled in his favour. His family celebrated the victory. The other party grudgingly accepted the court ruling. Life at Bulwamaza continued uninterrupted for a while. But in 2013, Tenywa wanted to open up boundaries of his land and also erect boundary marks. On March 13, 2013, when he got a group of people to help him demarcate his land, hell broke loose. At 7am, when the squatters saw him with boundary marks, they knew that an eviction was imminent. They charged at him. One resident, Aggrey Lwamaza, could not allow the boundary marking to kick off without a fight. He mobilised several residents to block the erecting of the boundary marks.

Tenywa saw trouble ahead. He retreated and went hunting for those trained to handle trouble-makers. The police officers were swift in their response. They came with an order to arrest Lwamaza and his friends. It wasn’t long before they met them, but arresting turned out to be an uphill task. Lwamaza raised an alarm that attracted the attention of other residents. Residents insisted none of their people would be arrested. Police officers too insisted that they couldn’t leave the area without arresting the suspects. Lwamaza continued to mobilise his residents and they advanced against the handful of police officers. The police officers knew how inadequate their war chest was. They attempted to calm down the angry residents and then take them through why they were in the area. No one was given a hearing. The lives of the police officers were on the line. The angry crowd had charged at them and ignored their threats.

To save their lives, the police officers retreated for better reorganization. Their retreat was read as a defeat against the landlord and backers. But they didn’t just sit and wait. They asked the Sub-county chief to seek a halt on the marking of the boundaries. Sub-county officials summoned Tenywa for negotiations, he declined to appear.

This annoyed the sub-county officials who ordered the other party to fetch him. More than 30 people led by Lwamaza raided Tenywa’s home as he was with his family and fished him out. He resisted though he was overpowered. As he was being taken to the sub-county, several other people joined in baying for his blood. The plan changed. In Bulwamaza trading centre, the mob started beating up Tenywa. Tenywa pleaded for his life. No one could listen. Justine Nanangwe, the wife of Tenywa, watched helplessly as her husband’s life was being taken. Nanangwe told detectives that she saw Lwamaza, Matyasi Batendera, Yahaya Muganza and Alice Kako beating her husband. “Lwamaza told those who were beating my husband that they should kill him because if they didn’t, they will all end up in jail,” Nanangwe said in a police statement. “Then I saw the mob pick up bricks and sticks that they used to hit my husband all over the body. As my husband was bleeding and motionless, I saw Annet Magambo pick up a rope and strangled him,” Nanangwe told detectives later.

In fear, she took off to police to file a report. Fortunately, on the way, she found police officers were rushing to respond to the mob action and informed them. The police officers and the wife of the deceased reached the scene when the mob had already dispersed. Inspector Joshua Mulwanyi and Corporal Collin Twinamatsiko picked up Tenywa’s body and took it to hospital for an autopsy. The autopsy confirmed that the deceased had been beaten with objects that led to his death. Cpl Twinamatsiko was appointed the investigator officer in the case. The hunt for the perpetrators immediately started. Lwamaza was arrested at the scene. His arrest sent fear among the residents and many fled the village. Cpl Twinamatsiko’s team had to wait.

On March 26, 2013, Mathias Batendera and Fransensi Mukoda were arrested when they returned home. The next month Alice Kako was arrested when she returned to the village. Yoweri Waiswa, Jesca Nabirye and Mirembe Namasole were hiding at Wakitaka in Mafubira, Jinja District, where they were arrested after a tip-off. Detectives then started recording statements of suspects and eyewitnesses. In Lwamaza’s statement, he denied having led the mob to kill Tenywa. He told police detectives that when he saw a mob attacking Tenywa, he was concerned and being a crime preventer, and knowledgeable about the law, he didn’t participate. “I was slashing his compound when the incident happened. I only saw Nabirye and Mirembe participating in the beating,” he told detectives. Cpl Twinamatsiko interrogated Yahaya Muganza, Kako and Waiswa. They admitted to having participated only to take Tenywa to the sub-county as they were told by the authorities. The trio, however, said when they reached the trading centre, they were overpowered by another group that took charge of Tenywa and beat him up until he died. Mirembe admitted to the detectives that she beat Tenywa though she denied killing him. She accused Magambo of strangling Tenywa to death. Although many of the suspects were still on the run, police had obtained enough evidence they needed to forward the case to court. Police preferred murder charges against over 15 suspects, including Mirembe, Lwamaza, Batendera, Nabirye, Waiswa, Mukoda, Kako and Muganza.

The case

The Director of Public Prosecutions sanctioned the charge and all the seven were taken to court and remanded. In Jinja High Court, Mirembe pleaded guilty and she was sentenced, but the rest denied the charges. Prosecution presented the deceased’s wife Nanangwe and their daughter, Resty Nakato, who witnessed the assault and the death of their beloved one. Nanangwe kept the same line as what she told police in her statement mentioning all the people she saw beating her husband to death. Her daughter, Nakato moved court when she narrated what she saw on the fateful day. Nakato told court how the mob even took their deceased father’s shoes from them.

To prove motive of the suspects, prosecution presented Charles Mukula, a police inspector, who told court he had earlier investigated the same suspects in the same land disputes and wanted them arrested, but had failed. When the suspects were given an opportunity to put out their defense, each claimed to have been far from the scene of crime. Lwamaza said the mob didn’t allow him to reach the scene since he was a known crime preventer. “Thereafter, I ran to the police to report the incident. That is when I was arrested for a crime I didn’t commit,” Lwamaza said. Batendera said he had gone with his wife Mukoda to attend a vigil of her mother in-law on the fateful day. That they returned when Tenywa had already been killed. But his brother Bonifance Tezikya, whom he claimed to have gone with to the vigil, said they came back earlier and Batendera remained at the trading centre where the incident happened. Nabirye and her husband Waiswa were away looking after their sick children. Unfortunately, their daughter Mirembe had earlier pleaded guilty of murder. Kako claimed she had gone for a burial of her brother three days before the incident. She only returned after the killing had happened. Kako’s father Soscipateri Mupere contradicted his daughter when he told court that the burial was on March 8, 2013, not March 10, 2013. Mupere said he left his home on the evening of March 12, 2013, and returned to her home in Bulwamaza village. All other accused gave different alibis. But Judge Godfrey Namundi believed none.

The sentence

“I have considered these defenses in view of the other evidence on record. There is no doubt that there is overwhelming evidence that the accused people were identified and placed at the scene of crime. In that light, therefore, the alibi pleaded by each accused person comes across as concoctions or after thought, which were given birth and nurtured during this trial,” Judge Namundi said. The judge said: “I accordingly find each of the seven accused people guilty of the offence of murder contrary to sections 188 and 189 of the Penal Code Act. I convict each of them as indicted”. All the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Legally Speaking

The Penal Code Act cap 120 Uganda provides for Murder under section 188 and states that any person who out of malice aforethought causes the death of another person by an unlawful act or omission commits murder. This offense is punishable by death under section 189.

For prosecution to secure a conviction on a murder charge there must be proof that the victim is dead, that his death was unlawfully caused with malice aforethought and that the accused directly or indirectly participated in causing it.

In this instance for Impartial lawyers to assist:

Step 1 They would advise you to report the incident at the nearest police station.

Step 2 They would advise the Police to conduct thorough investigations and ensure that all relevant investigative techniques are promptly carried out.

Step 3 They would advise the DPP to prove all elements of murder beyond reasonable doubt and ensure that the accused are prosecuted to serve as an example to the public who tend to involve themselves in mob justice.

Article courtesy of The Daily Monitor newspaper and edited by Advocate Vera Nawumbe