🔴 Anthony Natif notes from Court: Uganda Vs Molly Katanga and Others June 10/2026

 

UgandaVsMollyKatanga: Cross Examination of Defense’s Forensic Expert Ends

SPECIAL REPORT | ANTHONY NATIF | As recorded in the case Uganda Vs Molly Katanga and adapted from @TonyNatif on X. 

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Yesterday, following a multi-day cross-examination of the defense’s first expert witness, the prosecution found themselves where they were at the start of the exercise: trying to fit scientific square pegs into round holes.

They were staring at a consultant forensic pathologist who refused to yield on the scientific and common-sense grounds on which he insisted his report was founded. (See video in frame 1 on X)

And that – more than attempts to discredit him using what they considered derogatory statements about his fellow professionals, who he insists did a shoddy job with the Henry Katanga postmortem, etc. – might be the most important outcome of the forensic pathology sessions.

The questions to answer were:

1. Did the bullet move from left to right and downwards as claimed by the prosecution? Their argument being Mr Katanga was right-handed and thus couldn’t have shot himself on the left.

OR

2- Did the bullet move from right to left, entering through the right ear and exiting on the left side of the late Henry Katanga’s head, just above his left ear and onto the ceiling where it left a mark?

The defense, through this expert witness, argues that the prosecution doesn’t have a scientific or even common-sense leg to stand on.

Through an elaborate PowerPoint presentation, Dr Onzivua showed Lady Justice Rosette Comfort Kania how bullets behave upon firing from a gun and how the high-pressure gases at the muzzle of a gun cause severe burns at the entry point of a bullet. This, he said, was a fundamental mark of a bullet entry wound, especially one from a close-range bullet, as this was.

He explained other characteristics like beveling, inversion, etc.

He then explained the cause of death and mechanism of death as well as what happens to a human brain when a high-velocity projectile penetrates it.

He concluded by saying that in his professional opinion, Mr Henry Katanga likely stood or sat on the couple’s bed and shot himself after beating his wife to a point where he thought he had killed her.

He said the postmortem report, photographs, and witness statements as well as the scene reconstruction as informed by witness statements leave one with no other conclusion.

UgandaVsMollyKatanga

Cross Examination: Does the State Have a Science Problem?

Yesterday, the prosecution in this case came out all guns blazing as they sought to poke holes in a senior forensic pathologist’s testimony in defense of Mrs Molly Katanga.

Dr Sylvester Onzivua’s… https://t.co/7HgQdTWRrV pic.twitter.com/dUFfulD17u

— Anthony Natif (@TonyNatif) May 16, 2026

The defense argues that even if one were to believe the state’s case that the bullet went left to right, through Mr Katanga’s right ear and downward, it would at least have left a mark on the floor on the side it is alleged to have exited from.

There was no such mark anywhere, the lead investigator in this case, Bibiana Akong, told Justice Kania, earlier in the trial.

To the contrary, the defense cited a bullet mark on the ceiling; in a direction that aligns with their forensic pathologist’s theory that Mr Katanga shot himself through the right ear, the bullet took an upward movement where it exited the head above the left ear, went through the mosquito net where brain matter was deposited and off to the ceiling.

The scene of crime officer and the ballistics expert, both state witnesses, confirmed the presence of this ceiling bullet mark.

Dr Onzivua called upon three court volunteers to demonstrate to Justice Kania the natural shooting position of someone who shoots themselves in the ear.

When he called on the volunteers to mimic the shooting motion, they all did the same thing without prompting. (See frame 2).

To him, this demonstration, together with the forensic pathology science of entry and exit wounds and the evidence at the scene, should really put paid to the state’s claims.

Re-examination of Dr Onzivua, which briefly started yesterday afternoon, will continue tomorrow Fridady from 9 am.

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