Family of Kyengera gunshot victim pleads for justice

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The family of a mobile money operator who was killed in Kyengera is pleading with the police to identify her killer and have him arrested.

Denzilanta Nabasirye, 44, a resident of Kyengera town council died on Tuesday last week after she was shot in the chest during a scuffle, as security teams arrested a man identified as Geoffrey Kitatta, who was disarming security personnel.

Kitatta who is suspected to be mentally unstable, had cordoned off the road threatening to hack road users with a machete, when an unidentified security officer armed with a pistol came out of his car to intervene in the situation.

Eyewitnesses said that the officer ordered Kitatta to put his hands up but instead, he aimed for his pistol. This they say prompted the said officer to shoot in the air, but a stray bullet landed at Nabasirye who was standing by the roadside.

Although witnesses indicate that the victim was shot by the said security officer, the police insist that there were more gunshots by security guards who responded to the incident. Muhammad Kamba, a brother to the deceased told URN that ever since his sister was killed two weeks ago, police has remained silent on the matter with no arrest or headway on the reported manhunt.

“We think that police is hiding something from us, even on the day we picked the body, they had declined to give us the post-mortem report, and we had to stage a protest at the mortuary. Whenever we go to Kyengera police, no one wants to talk to us about the said investigations,” Kamba said.

Marry Nalukenge, a daughter to the deceased narrates that her mother was the only parent they had and their sole provider.

Nalukenge and her uncle Muhammad are calling on human rights defenders and lawyers to intervene and push security agencies to have the suspect arrested.

But Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said they cannot have the suspect arrested before he is identified. He says detectives have zeroed in on five guns that were collected at the scene to help them identify Nabasirye’s killer.

Owoyesigire said that their teams are still carrying out firearm examinations, a process in which the characteristics of a firearm and ballistics are studied to link specific bullets to a specific firearm, and the person. He says that this process takes some time.

Owoyesigire said that Kitaka is still undergoing medical treatment of bullet wounds he sustained during the scuffle to disarm him before he is subjected to a mental check.

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URN