Katanga’s stepsister chuckled in court about his death

Peter Kabatsi (lawyer): My colleague Jet Tumwebaze will continue with the cross-examination.

Jet Tumwebaze (another lawyer): Naume, I think you have a copy of the deceased’s call logs, Airtel and MTN lines. You gave the court three phone numbers, when we broke up you wrote down three numbers. Please confirm that these two songs belong to Henry Katanga.

Nyagweso: You can read them.

Tumwebaze: 0701942123. Is that Henry’s number?

Nyagweso: It is MTN that you are reading.

Tumwebaze: No. 0776 942 321, please confirm it is for Henry.

Nyagweso: That’s our private number.

Tumwebaze: Whose number is it?

Nyagweso: It’s mine, I used to use it privately with Henry.

Tumwebaze: Is it in your name?

Tumwebaze: Whose name is it in?

Tumwebaze: The third number is 0781 334 893. Is that your number?

Nyagweso: I’ve never had a song like that before.

Wakooli: We need to confirm with the witness if these are the numbers she wrote to the court. Judge… reads out the numbers.

Tumwebaze: Those are the figures she provided to the court. You obtained court orders with Henry’s numbers and the witness calls them hers.

Jonathan Muwaganya (another public prosecutor): Have her refer to her phone because normally she can’t cram those numbers. She may be allowed to refer to her phone.

Look at your phone and tell us those numbers.

Nyagweso: 0776 942321, it’s from Henry Katanga.

Tumwebaze: 0781 334893, whose is it?

Tumwebaze: Whose number did you give us first?

Nyagweso: When I read that issue, I didn’t have a phone.

Right: So she doesn’t know?

Tumwebaze: You don’t know whose it is?

Nyagweso: I don’t even have it on my phone.

Tumwebaze: You made up this song?

Tumwebaze: You provided these figures to the court, were you lying?

Tumwebaze: Now that you have confirmed the two numbers for Henry; Airtel and MTN, can you view the call logs?

Tumwebaze: First of all, you can confirm that your official number is in your name.

Nyagweso: I want to write it down.

Tumwebaze: It’s on your police statement and is very public.

Nyagweso: Not everyone in court knows my police statement.

Tumwebaze: Okay, have the witness write down her official number.

Right: You write it down. Have you confirmed it?

Tumwebaze: Yes, my lord. Have the prosecutor give the witness the call records of the two numbers.

Muwaganya: We did not have the original copies of the logbooks with us. We did not anticipate that our colleagues would cross-examine based on the call logs for which we had prepared another witness.

We have made everything public and we have no objection to our colleagues asking the witness, but he must use what he has.

Tumwebaze: The witness is shown a copy of the call records from MTN and Airtel, both owned by Katanga.

Between September 1 and November 1, you can show us any telephone conversations between you and the deceased.

Nyagweso: I have identified one that is marked. Others don’t and I can’t identify them.

Tumwebaze: Before October 27, 2023? I want you to show me the phone conversations between you and Katanga.

Nyagweso: We always talked.

Tumwebaze: You told the court that after the wedding, Katanga gave you Shs100,000 to buy a secret phone and a line.

Tumwebaze: Do you remember that the wedding took place on Saturday, October 28, 2023?

Tumwebaze: So the Monday after the wedding could have been October 30, 2023?

Tumwebaze: So you bought this line on Monday, October 30, 2023.

Nyagweso: No, my lord. I bought it on a Sunday. I bought the line the next day, October 31st.

Tumwebaze: Am I right then in concluding that you and your brother talked about his two official songs and your well-known songs before the 30th and 31st?

Nyagweso: He used to call me on WhatsApp with his MTN number.

Tumwebaze: In your three statements to the police, did you ever reveal a WhatsApp conversation between you and the late Henry Katanga?

Nyagweso: The numbers you provided to the court, you told the court that the Airtel line for Henry is what you put in brackets (on WhatsApp), are you lying?

Tumwebaze: Please confirm that nowhere in your police statements have you revealed secret numbers between you and the late Henry.

Right: Did you provide secret numbers to the police?

Tumwebaze: I’m telling you that the reason you haven’t told anyone or the police is because these unlisted numbers don’t exist.

Nyagweso: My lord, they exist.

Tumwebaze: Take a look at those call logs, do you see any calls between you and the late Henry on October 27, 2023?

Tumwebaze: You confirm that the 27th was the eve of Patricia’s wedding, which was to take place the next day.

Tumwebaze: Do you know the central role a senga (paternal aunt) plays at the niece’s wedding in Kinyankole culture?

Nyagweso: I won’t answer that.

Tumwebaze: Naume, you have no choice and I pray that the court prevails against this witness.

Tumwebaze: One of the tasks is to bring milk in a jar to the newlyweds the next morning.

Nyagweso: I know my lord, can I explain myself? They got another aunt and she played that role, not me.

Tumwebaze: You also know that an aunt is the one who hands out the bride to the other side

Muwaganya: Your Honor, we are hurting, we know the cross-examination, but relevance is important. We’re in a murder case.

Right: You need to know that it is okay if it is a cultural practice and it is performed by someone else.

Tumwebaze: My lord, we’re coming and we’re in the background.

Tumwebaze: As the only surviving sister of the late Katanga, you would obviously play this role at Patricia’s wedding (Patricia Kakwanza is one of Katanga’s daughters and a suspect in this case)?

Right: First of all, were you Katanga’s only surviving sister and qualified to play this role?

Nyagweso: Yes, my lord and I are not chosen.

Right: Answer the questions immediately.

Nyagweso: I had to do that.

Tumwebaze: And you know that Henry did not choose you for this important role, but in fact your cousin Lydia Kabirizi.

Nyagweso: My brother didn’t choose me, Molly chose Lydia Kabirizi.

Tumwebaze: You know you didn’t play this important role at Martha’s wedding two years earlier.

Nyagweso: I did not, my lord.

Tumwebaze: I told you that your brother did not trust you as a senga (aunt) and could not trust you to keep his secrets.

Nyagweso: Not true, he trusted me.

Tumwebaze: Your brother who had not called you for three months and on October 27, 2023 was to inform you that you will not be playing that role.

Tumwebaze: I told you that your entire conversation with Katanga was fabricated and that the purpose of the call was to fire you as a senga.

Tumwebaze: I submit to you that your behavior towards his widow and orphans after your brother’s death confirms why your brother never wanted you to play a role as a senga.

Nyagweso: Not true, my lord, why should my brother dismiss me?

Tumwebaze: Do you know Molly Katanga’s phone number?

Tumwebaze: Check the call log, can you read it in court?

Tumwebaze: View the call logs.

Nyagweso: I can’t read them, they are very small.

Tumwebaze: The phone calls show that Katanga called his wife twice a day for the past two months before his death, unlike you, he didn’t call at all.

Tumwebaze: And on the day he fired you, he called her twice and on the day of the wedding he called her four times.

Muwaganya: Everyone has seen that you know how to offend, but we just pray that the witness is treated with respect.

Tumwebaze: On the 29th he called her twice and on October 30th, the day he would have given you his safe, he called Molly Katanga twice, do you know?

Nyagweso: I didn’t know because I wasn’t on their calls.

Tumwebaze: Based on these call logs given to us by the prosecutor; Were you not as close to your deceased brother as you would like the court to believe?

Nyagweso: My lord, I had a good relationship with my brother.

Tumwebaze: On November 5, Henry Katanga was buried in Nyabushozi. Were you not present at your brother’s funeral?

Tumwebaze: Instead, you held a parallel meeting at your mother’s house in Kashari and even made a speech. Do you remember what you said?

Nyagweso: Yes, I remember.

Tumwebaze: At the meeting it was said that there was no way Henry would have shot himself and you gave two reasons: he was right-handed and yet he was shot from the left.

Tumwebaze: The second reason was that you viewed his body in the morgue, he had two gunshot wounds, one to the head and one to the thigh.

Nyagweso: It is true, my lord

Tumwebaze: You made up this story about two gunshot wounds because you wanted to dispel the idea that he committed suicide.

Tumwebaze: Do you still stand by that story about two gunshot wounds that you gave to the mourners?

Tumwebaze: I’m telling you this was to fabricate evidence against Molly Katanga.

Nyagweso: Not true, my lord.

Tumwebaze: If it can be shown that the bullet actually entered through the right side, can it be said that it was suicide?

Muwaganya: We object to that question. It is a hypothetical question and the witness is a factual question.

Right: That’s unimportant, we need to save time.

Tumwebaze: You confirm that you had a brother named Ntomi.

Tumwebaze: Confirm that he committed suicide.

Nyagweso: No, my lord.

Tumwebaze: There is a person you confided in because you fear your brother was suicidal, just like my other brother Ntomi.

Nyagweso: Not true, my lord.

Tumwebaze: I would like to inform you that there is a history of suicide in your family and that the suicide of your brother Katanga has not surprised you.

Tumwebaze: Naume, Amanyire told us that while on remand in Luzira, he was transferred to Kigo Prison. Are you informed?

Tumwebaze: He told us that when you were at Kigo, you visited him on February 6, 2024.

Nyagweso: I didn’t go to Kigo to visit him. I had gone to other people and I saw him too and I greeted him.

Tumwebaze: You did not visit your daughter Martha and Patricia while they were in pre-trial detention in Luzira prison.