Lawyer grills police officer Katanga murder case
CAPTION: Lawyers led by McDusman Kabega (left) cross-examining a witness.
By Our reporter
KAMPALA – Assistant Inspector of Police Emmanuel Elubu, who was charged with processing the scene of crime in the alleged murder of Henry Katanga, has been accused of tampering with the scene as well as the body of the deceased businessman.
The accusations followed a cross-examination by defence lawyers led by McDusman Kabega who revealed that Elubu had removed the cotton gauze that was on the body of the deceased.
In his testimony, AIP Elubu admitted to having removed the gauze that was on Katanga’s body and given it to another officer, AIP Ogwang, unmarked. The gauze was then sent to the police as an exhibit only to turn out to be on the body of Katanga in the mortuary.
When grilled further as to the whereabouts of the cotton gauze, AIP Elubu conceded that “it is true the report does not mention any white gauze and did not mark them,” adding that there “must have been some mistakes made during the process.”
Lawyer Kabega also grilled AIP Elubu on why his report to the court did not reveal that he is the one who removed the magazine from the pistol and a live bullet from the chamber, accusing him of submitting exhibits in a different form from how they were recovered.
“By doing that, you were actually tampering with the exhibit; you did not submit the gun and its ammunition in the form you recovered them,” Kabega probed.
Kabega also claimed that the report submitted by AIP Elubu was based on what he was told by his seniors and not exactly a record of his personal findings, as he lacked experience and expertise.
“The only reason he claims the scene was complicated was because of lack of expertise,” Kabega noted, adding that AIP Elubu , who has only been in service for about 5 years, was the least experienced officer on the case and at the crime scene.
Earlier, Elubu had conceded that he was challenged by the crime scene, labeling it complicated as he had to initially withdraw to let more experienced police officers handle the different aspects of it, particularly the blood patterns.
