Court visits crime scene in Lt. Joel Mutabazi terror trial

The JUDGES OF the Military High Court trying 16 people in a terror case on Thursday spent about half a day in Rwamagana District at a scene where the main suspect, Lt. Joel Mutabazi, hid a pistol he later used in faking an assassination attempt in order to get asylum in Uganda. Mutabazi, a former presidential guard, deserted the military in 2010, but left the pistol at his uncle’s home in Kabeza cell, Muhazi sector, Rwamagana. He would later use it to simulate an attack on his house in Kampala and blame Rwandan authorities, according to prosecution and the co-accused. Testimonies were heard from both Mutabazi’s uncle, and brother, Eugene Mutamba and Jackson Karemera, respectively, on where the pistol was kept before Mutabazi sent his brother back to Rwanda to pick it. Mutamba had earlier told court that when Karemera came for the pistol, he made him sign an agreement acknowledging receipt. The bench had to spend hours at Mutamba’s house reconstructing the events. “I came home one afternoon through the back entrance and found Mutabazi seated in the leaving room. We shared lunch and he told me he was going to visit his mother-in-law. He was a frequent visitor and had a bedroom in my house,” Mutamba told court. “After the meal, I went to my room to take a nap, a few minutes later he came in and left a pistol on my table. I did not think much about it since I thought he would be back any time,” Mutamba told judges as he stood in front of his house. “Mutabazi took long to return, so I decided to keep the gun in a suitcase until the time his brother came looking for it. I made him sign a statement acknowledging receipt,” Mutamba said. After his narration, Mutamba took the judges inside his house to show them where the pistol was allegedly hidden, but he couldn’t trace a copy of the document Karemera signed when he picked it. Meanwhile, in the military tribunal, Mutabazi had told the court that he buried the pistol behind his uncle’s second house but when the court asked him about it, he declined to speak. Only three suspects, Mutabazi, Mutamba and Karemera travelled with the judges to Rwamagana yesterday. Mutabazi was dressed in full military gear.

National

Court visits crime scene in Lt. Joel Mutabazi terror trial