Highlights:
- Policeman Committed to High Court Trial
- Officer Charged in Fatal Shooting of Indian Moneylender
- High Court Trial Looms for Ugandan Policeman in Indian Moneylender’s Death
In a recent development, a Ugandan policeman accused of fatally shooting an Indian moneylender at Raja Chambers on Parliamentary Avenue in Kampala has been committed to the High Court for trial. Police Constable Ivan Wabwire was committed by the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate, Ronald Kayizzi, on Friday.
The indictment, presented in court by the prosecution led by Ivan Kyazze and signed by senior state attorney Timothy Amerit on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Jane Francis Abodo, alleges that on May 12, 2023, Wabwire unlawfully killed Uttam Bhandari with malice aforethought.
The indictment further states that on May 10, 2023, PC Steven Murombo signed out an SMG rifle AK 47 with 120 rounds of ammunition from the armory of Central Police Station (CPS) Kampala for certain duties at Nakivubo Community Police Post. He returned the weapon on May 12. On the same day, Murombo signed out the same rifle again, went to his room at CPS, and changed into civilian clothes to seek medical attention, leaving Wabwire alone in the room.
According to the indictment, Wabwire had a financial dispute with the deceased, who was a director and proprietor of TFS financial services, a money lending entity. Wabwire had secured a loan and defaulted on payments, leading to disagreements between them.
On May 12, 2023, Wabwire dressed in police uniform, took Murombo’s gun, and traveled by boda boda to TFS financial services. There, after a discussion with Bhandari, he fired gunshots at the CCTV screen and then shot the deceased multiple times, resulting in his death.
The DPP plans to rely on CCTV cameras and private surveillance cameras at Raja Chambers, which captured Wabwire’s actions before he left the scene. Additionally, evidence includes Wabwire’s medical report, which indicated that he was of normal mental state at the time, the postmortem report of the deceased, and the crime scene report.
The indictment also mentions that although Wabwire was living with schizophrenia, a chronic mental illness, a mental status report from Butabika Hospital confirmed that he was mentally fit to provide a statement about his actions leading to the incident. It was determined that the residual symptoms of his illness did not influence his capacity to carry out the actions that resulted in the murder, as suggested by the DPP’s indictment.
