🔴 Anthony Natif notes from Court: Uganda Vs Molly Katanga and Others June 12/2026

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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This matter returned to the High Court this morning, June 19th, with the defense set to present their third witness. Outside Mrs Katanga herself, this would be the 2nd expert witness.

The 1st expert witness being Dr Sylvester Onzivua, a forensic pathologist whose evidence, if found persuasive by Lady Justice Rosette Comfort Kania, would leave the state with an almost insurmountable task to prove its case against Mrs Molly Katanga.

I’ll explain:

In finding a case to answer against Mrs Katanga, Justice Kania was convinced by the prosecution evidence as supported by the postmortem report and witness testimony that Mr Katanga was killed by a bullet, shot at close range above his left ear, and this bullet travelled downwards and out through the right ear canal.

She further said that going by Mr Katanga’s sister’s testimony, the deceased was right-handed, and thus it would be very difficult for him to have manoeuvred the gun with his weaker left hand to shoot himself at that angle on the left.

The bullet left no mark on the floor where it could have landed if that theory held.

Justice Kania, while acknowledging that Mr Katanga was trained to use a firearm – and there was no evidence to show his wife knew how to use one – nevertheless rejected the defense’s alternative theory that, indeed, Mr Katanga shot himself on the right side, through the ear, and the bullet went upwards, exited above his left ear and onto the ceiling where it left a visible mark, confirmed by all state witnesses asked. (See frames 1&2)

UgandaVsMollyKatanga

This matter returns to the High Court this morning with the defense expected to present their 3rd witness.

Outside Mrs Katanga herself, this would be the 2nd expert witness.

The 1st expert witness being Dr Sylvester Onzivua, a forensic pathologist whose… https://t.co/ApA55zMoHe pic.twitter.com/0ha4phXj75

— Anthony Natif (@TonyNatif) June 19, 2026

Enter Dr Onzivua, who forcefully refuted the theory and science the Learned Trial Judge relied upon to find a case to answer against Mrs Katanga.

He only stopped short of calling it junk science.

Waving the post-mortem report done by Dr Richard Ambayo and Dr Male Mutumba – the latter said to be a forensic pathologist but of less experience than Dr Onzivua – he said “Such a report could not have passed peer review in a serious entity.”

He said no pathologist would look at the wound on the left and the wound on the right and conclude that the wound on the left was an entry wound and the one on the right an exit wound.

With the help of a PowerPoint presentation, he took the court through the mechanics of gun firing and the classic signs of bullet entry and exit wounds.

Using images of the bullet holes on either side of Mr Katanga’s head, he explained why he was absolutely convinced that the right hole was an entry hole and the left an exit hole. He said that to him, the case before court was highly likely a suicide and not a homicide.

Using 3 randomly selected court attendees as props, Dr Onzivua demonstrated to Judge Kania that, in fact, the bullet trajectory was squarely in line with what would happen if a right-handed person were to shoot themselves in the ear (on the head), to wit, elbow bent at an angle and gun pointing slightly upwards, meaning the bullet exits the head at a higher angle than entry. (See frame 3.)

He corroborated this with the scene of crime reports and posited that the bullet went through a mosquito net, depositing brain matter, on its way upwards to the ceiling, where it left a mark.

In the re-exam, he joked that for the state’s case to hold, that bullet should have somersaulted in the air after exiting Mr Katanga’s head and then gone in the opposite direction. He said he knew of no such bullet, except perhaps one shot by Ugandan police.
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On the characteristics of the entry wound, Dr Onzivua said the right ear had soot deposition and blast effects of gases, classic close-range bullet entry findings (Frame 4)

The state said the left had inverted edges, an entry characteristic. They said even Onzivua’s grandma could see.

Dr Onzivua said during shaving around that hole, it was interfered with, and due to lack of bone underneath, it looked inverted, which he said confused the prosecution. He also pointed out what looked like a white string in the middle.