Anguzu told the Judge that the application filed this morning will be heard exparte for security reasons and that he could not even reveal much about the application for similar reasons.
The Directorate of Public Prosecutions has
filed an application in the International Crimes Division of High Court seeking
to protect witnesses in the murder trial of former Assistant Inspector General
of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi.
The former Uganda Police spokesperson was gunned down together with his body guard Kenneth Erau and driver,
Godfrey Mambewa on March 17 2017 in Kulambiro, a Kampala city
suburb.
Eight suspects were picked up and scheduled to stand trial for the
murder.
They are Bruhan Balyejusa, Shafiq
Kasujja, Yusuf Nyanzi, Jibril Kalyango, Joshua Kyambadde, Yusuf Mugerwa, Abdu
Rashid Mbaziira and Aramathan Higenyi.
All the suspects with the exception of
Mbaziira and Higenyi, who are on remand at Luzira Upper prison for child trafficking,
are out on bail.
They appeared in court this morning for the
pretrial conference via video link from Luzira prison. The Assistant DPP Lino
Anguzu told court that they have applied for witness protection for during the
hearing.
He explained that the application will be heard
experte for security reasons and didn’t divulge more details. He told court that
they have been able to disclose to the defense 95 percent of the documentary
evidence relating to the matter.
These include more than 30 witness statements,
charge and caution statements of the accused persons, indictments, phone print
outs and exhibit slips among others.
He however, said they hadn’t been able to disclose
the physical evidence to the defense because they need time to inspect some of
the exhibits, which are in police custody.
The suspects were represented by their lawyers, Anthony Wameli, Geoffrey Turyamusiima and Hamza
Ssekidde. Wameli indeed confirmed that the State hadn’t yet finalized with
disclosing all the necessary evidence.
//Cue in: “They have applied...
Cue out. .. of the pretrial,”//
Luganda
//Cue in: “So nekilala bategezeza…
Cue out: bali batulugunyizidwa”. //
Justice Duncan Gaswagga has directed the state
to complete the process of disclosing the evidence to the defense team for the
pretrial to commence.
He declined to comment on the application for witness
protection, saying he hasn’t seen it on court record.
