KAMPALA –ASP Joseph Wandera, who was last week detained at Jinja Road Police Station on offences relates to murder, appeared before the Nakawa Grade One Magistrate on the same charge.
Grade One Magistrate, Frank Namanya read to him the charge of murder but didn’t allow him to enter into plea since the case was of a capital nature.
State Prosecutor, Eunice Mbaine told court that investigations into the case were still on-going, seeking adjournment. Namanya remanded the accused until January 12, 2023.
According to the charge sheet, Wandera is accused of killing his girlfriend, Ssubi Busingye on December 5, 2022. His appearance before court followed Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga’s revelation that Wandera had been detained at Jinja Road on allegations of murdering his girlfriend.
According to Enanga, Wandera was suspected of murdering his girlfriend –Subi Busingye on December 5, 2022 while returning home from an outing at Lugogo Rugby Club. Enanga narrated that after the act, the suspect walked to the police station claiming that his girlfriend had slipped and fallen into one of the open manholes next to the Umeme transformer along the Jinja road at around 2:00 am.
“When he reported the matter at Jinja road (police station), we sent the homicide team – and it was discovered that there was blood (stains) around the manhole; and the shoes were scattered around; if someone had fallen, such traces would have been possible,” said Enanga.
Enanga explained that the scene of the crime had traces of evidence that there was a struggle between the suspect and the deceased.
“The body was recovered in the channel around one kilometre away towards Bugolobi, being swept by the water, and taken to the city mortuary. When the post-mortem was carried out, it was found that she died as a result of strangulation,” he noted.
Preliminary findings show that the two lovers developed misunderstandings along the way when the deceased threatened to quit the relationship, leading into a fight.
Wandera is not the first police officer to run into trouble for the alleged murder of his lover. In 2021 Cpl Sam Owuku – a driver of the Kampala South Regional Police Commander – Rogers Sseguya stormed his fiancée’s residence in Buddo, shooting her dead.
In August this year, SPC Isaac Alioma from Kijomoro police station in Maracha district committed suicide after shooting his wife dead in a domestic fight. During a psychological check-up of police officers from the Kampala Metropolitan Police area, which experts from Makerere University conducted in 2020, police authorities were advised to employ the services of professional counsellors to assist officers who undergo a lot of stress, which is dangerous to society.
Additional reporting by URN
