Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has committed Police Officer Ivan Wabwire to the High Court to face trial on charges of murdering an Indian money lender Uttam Bhandari Saremal.
Wabwire was committed by Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi after the State Attorney Ivan Kyazze informed the Court that investigations in the case were complete. Kyazze tendered before Court committal papers which the Prosecution will rely on to pin Wabwire for murder.
He was committed to the High Court because the Magistrates court has no jurisdiction to try cases like murder offenses which attract a maximum sentence of death upon conviction.
The records tendered before the Court show that on May 10 2023 Police Constable Steven Murombo went to the Armory of Central Police Station-CPS Kampala and signed for an AK-47 riffle with 120 rounds of ammunition and informed his colleague Nobody Mudasiri the then Acting Armory man that he was going to perform certain duties at Nakivubo Community Police Post.
Records further indicate that the same gun was returned two days later and Murombo returned it to his room at CPS Barracks which he shared with Wabwire.
The Prosecution evidence further shows that Murombo left the gun hidden under his mattress and went to seek some medical attention, leaving Wabwire alone in the room.
Wabwire had been informed of TFS financial services a money lending entity where the deceased was a director and a proprietor and he secured a loan and defaulted in payments thus accruing a lot of interest.
As a result, Prosecution says Wabwire developed disagreements with the deceased on how much money he was supposed to repay to the financial institution.
“So startled about how he could get the deceased to amend for him a figure to pay or kill him should the deceased refuse to amend the figures, on May 12th, 2023, Number 67029 PC Wabwire Ivan decided to dress up in police uniform and picked up the gun of Number 67389 PC Murombo Steven and went by a Boda Boda to TFS financial services “, reads the indictment.
It adds that Wabwire later got a Boda Boda and went to the Financial Services in a police uniform and gun and moved directly to the deceased’s office where he was shot dead moments after a discussion and fired bullets on the TV screen displaying the CCTV scenes.
The evidence to be relied on further shows that the police CCTV cameras and private surveillance cameras at Raja chambers captured Wabwire in action before leaving the scene and returning the gun to CPS.
Wabwire escaped immediately, but a joint security team under the guidance of Lt Frank Nyakairu the Senior Investigations Expert arrested Wabwire from Busia District on May 14th, 2023, and transported him back to Kampala.
The prosecution says that upon examination, Wabwire was medically examined and found to be of normal mental state, and the deceased’s body was examined and found the cause of death to be hemorrhagic shock following gunshot wounds.
The Director of Public Prosecutions -DPP says that the Prosecutors will tell the court that a ballistic report was done on the gun used by Wabwire and found to be in good working condition and that he is the one who discharged the killer bullets.
DPP adds that a mental status report from Butabika Hospital was obtained and it showed that although Wabwire was living with a chronic mental illness called Schizophrenia, he was however mentally fit to give a statement about his actions leading to the incident.
He was also able to appreciate the gravity of the act and that the residual symptoms of illness did not influence his capacity to execute the illegal actions that resulted in the murder.
The indictment signed by Senior State Attorney Timothy Amerit on behalf of the DPP shows that the Prosecution has evidence in the form of documents, videos, and sketch maps, reports to prove that Wabwire has no valid defense to the murder whatsoever and will ask the court to convict him accordingly.
It’s now not clear when his trial will start in the High Court since he has now been sent back on remand until such unknown time when the High Court will be ready to hear his case.