Court Martial halts hearing of petro bomb case after surety failed to name accused persons

The Military Court Martial chaired by Lt General Andrew Gutti has Monday failed to proceed with the case in which over 31 people are accused of throwing petrol bombs.

Court Martial halts hearing of petro bomb case after surety failed to name accused persons
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The Military Court Martial chaired by Lt General Andrew Gutti has Monday failed to proceed with the case in which over 31 people are accused of throwing petrol bombs.

The stalemate came after one of the sureties Busujju County Member of Parliament, Lukyamuzi David Kalwanga, failed to name all the accused persons off his head.

The suspects are:  Ibrahim Wandera, Asbert Nagwere, Steven Musakulu, Jimmy Galukande, Paul Muwanguzi, Kenneth Kamanya, Sharif Matovu, Shafiq Ngobi, Davis Mafabi, Abdallah Hakim Gibusiwa, Livingstone Katushabe Kigozi,  Obalai Siraji Mudebo, Joseph Muganza and Stanley Lwanga.

Others are Yasin Ssekitoleko alias Machete, Robert Christopher Rugumayo, Ronald Mayiga,  Patrick Mwase, Simon Kijambo, Muhydin Kakooza , Olivia Lutaaya , Abdu Matovu, Richard Nyombi, Olivia Lutaaya, Ronald Kijambo, Sharif Kalanzi, Joseph Muwonge, Mesach Kiwanuka, Abdalla Kintu, Umar Emma Kato and Musa Kavuma.

The group has been in jail for almost a year for illegal possession of 13 pieces of explosive devices which are ordinarily the monopoly of the defense forces, a crime they allegedly committed between November 2020 and May 2021 in areas of Jinja, Mbale, Kireka, Nakulabye, Kawempe, Natete and Kampala Central.

However, when the matter came up for bail hearing on Monday, Lt General Gutti sent the accused persons and their lawyers back to first organize themselves properly because one of the sureties, Kalwanga Lukyamuzi, did not know the suspects' names off his head.

This came when the lawyer for the suspects George Musisi mentioned Kalwanga as the first surety and when he reached front to be seen by the Court Martial Panel members, Musisi asked the legislator his age.

Gutti who looked surprised, then asked Musisi why he had not asked Kalwanga that question about his age before coming to Court. The practice at the Court Martial  is that the lawyer normally gets the brief facts about the surety before they are presented in Court.

However, after that, Gutti went ahead to ask Kalwanga to mention the names of the accused persons. 

He didn't know any. Kalwanga instead asked to be given two minutes to read them from the court documents. This didn't go down well with Gutti who said he should be knowing them to prove that he is substantial because the accused persons all don't live under the same roof with Kalwanga adding that some suspects runaway after being granted bail.

Gutti further indicated that the documents for other sureties submitted to Court were disorganized in a way that papers of the same information were many in the file which was not necessary. 

The Courth Martial chairman also advised the lawyers to introduce the sureties as just leaders without attaching them to their political party the National Unity Platform, unless the lawyer is sure that the party was also involved in masterminding the petrol bomb attacks together with the suspects.

Other people who had come to stand surety included Lubaga South MP Aloysius Talton Gold Mukasa, Geoffrey Kayemba Solo for Bukomansimbi South and Emmanuel Serunjogi the Kawempe Division Mayor, relatives, friends among others.

Gutti has directed them to go back and reorganize their documents and return to Court on April 26th, 2022 because the court had a busy schedule today.

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