By Wesley Spartan
A 15 year old boy [Names withheld] shocked court Wednesday afternoon as he narrated the last moments they he had with Hassim Ssali, a key suspect in the murder of city businessman Wilberforce Wamala before he later died in Bukasa police cells under unclear circumstances.
In his testimony before Makindye grade one magistrate George Watyekere, the boy revealed that on the night the late SSali passed on, he was brought in their cell by unidentified men and he was accompanied by a man who was described as his brother, but later the man was set free.
“I was detained at Bukasa police post in 2012 for theft. I was in the cells with four people when Hassan was brought in under critical conditions, he was bleeding profusely and he was being held by the said brother, who was granted police bond hours later,” he narrated.
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“Ssali told us that things had turned against him when a murder deal he was pursuing went wrong and that his bosses had refused to pay him.”
“On that very night at around 3.00 am, Ssali asked me for some drinking water, and I told him to talk to Mzee, one of our elderly inmates. But he was so feeble, that he couldn’t even move. He just crawled.
However, to our utter shock, we were woken up the following morning by Mzee, telling as that Ssali had committed suicide. Indeed his body dangled naked right above us on a jacket. Blood was still dripping from the body and interestingly, it was being collected in bucket underneath, which bucket was in a distant corner by the time we went to sleep.”
“We were surprised and we kept wondering how a man that could not even sit by himself, was able to hang himself on the cell’s ceiling. There was also a fork near the body despite the fact that forks were forbidden inside the cells and all food that comes in is checked thoroughly.
The DPC Kabalagala then SP Francis Chemusto in his testimony put all the blame on the OC Bukasa Police post by then one AIP Kau, who failed to carry out his duties, leading to death of a suspect.
“On 21st September 2013, I received a call from Divisional CID officer Kikomeko Deo at 6.00am informing me that a suspect had committed suicide in Bukasa Police post where I rushed with the OC CID Kabalagala,” Chemusto narrated.
Chemusto revealed that it was agreed on divisional level that only juveniles were to be kept at Bukasa police cells, at the same time and no murder suspect were supposed to be detained in a police post. For disregarding thiese rules, he said the OC Bukasa was arrested and suspended from work
“He was arrested because he did his work unprofessionally, first by not entering the suspect in the lock-up book as the law says. The information in the lock up book was not tallying with people in the cells; at the time of the incident the post had only two officers instead of at least six the minimum number required. He couldn’t recall the people who brought Ssali to the police post nor did he have their details and at the same time he didn’t call me as his immediate boss when the suspect died in his cells” Chemusto added.
Chemusto added that he was not convinced by the allegations that the man had committed suicide and thus waited to get the results from the experts.
Nakalema Saidat 42, mother to the deceased said that his son was picked in Kammengo Mpigi district in the month of September 2013 by a group of armed men in civilian attire on allegations that he killed a business man by names of Wamala after robbing him his money.
“I was informed that my son was at Bukasa Police post but when I came to Bukasa and asked the police officers, they asked me whether I had not watched him dead on Agataliiko nfuufu news on Bukedde TV. I followed up and picked the body in Mulago mortuary and later we organized burial ceremony”
The deceased, Hassim Ssali, was a key suspect in the murder of city businessman Wilberforce Wamala, who was killed at his home in Mutungo, Luzira two years back. Ssali’s arrest was due to the efforts that Wamala’s widow put in the case through the use of private investigators
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