Private Peter Okia a UPDF officer arrested on allegations of shooting dead his colleague, Pte Leonard Chebet and special hire driver, Yiga Gonzanga, has been handed over to Uganda People’s Defence Forces –UPDF for trial.
The suspect was arrested on September 2 after he reported at Natete Police Station that Gonzanga had grabbed Chebet’s gun and used it to kill him and that he also responded by also shooting Gonzaga dead.
According to Luke Owoyesigire the deputy spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan Police, they recorded Okia’s statement and later asked him to lead investigators and Scene of Crime Officers –SOCOs to the crime scene at Nalukolongo, Rubaga Division, in Kampala. Owoyesigire however says that upon arrival, Natete police officers and team of SOCOs realized the scene wasn’t fresh.
They realized that the incident had happened more than 24 hours earlier thus turning Okia into a prime suspect. The suspect later changed his statement admitting that he had delayed informing police, but the incident had happened the previous day.
According to Owoyesigire, Okia who for the last two weeks has been at Natete police, insists that his colleague was killed by Gonzaga. This prompted Police to invite the army to be part of investigations and a decision was made that Okia should be handed over to UPDF to be tried in the Court Martial.
All exhibits picked at the crime scene and report on reconstructing the scene, point to Okia being the key suspects in Chebet and Gonzaga murder. Police recovered two guns and six bullet casing at the crime scene.
