A Japanese national operating Waada Atsushi, has testified against suspect Charles Olimu alias Sipapa, in a case where he is charged of office breaking and theft.
In addition to the charges of robbery of up to 1.6 billion shillings and jewelry from a South Sudanese official, for which he was committed to the high court together with his wife Shamira Nakiyimba, Sipapa is separately charged with office breaking and theft.
Prosecution alleges that on 3rd February 2019, Olimu broke into New Jack Ltd offices in Kisugu, and stole eight computers, four hard discs, one electronic dictionary, five filters, an electronic book, four canon batteries, a backpack, a laptop and cash worth up to 169 million shillings.
Hearing of the case commenced on Friday at Makindye magistrate’s court, presided over by grade one magistrate Esther Adikini. It had been postponed early this year because the first witness Atsushi Waada, was out of the country by then.
Waada, 50, a resident of Muyenga, who is also the proprietor of New Jack company ltd, has appeared as the first prosecution witness, and testified how his company offices were broken into and things were stolen.
He told court that on 3rd February 2019, thieves broke into his company office, and stole items and hard cash. He added that he never recognized any of the thieves, not even Sipapa. However, it is police which told him that Sipapa was the person who had broken into his office and stole his property and money.
“I have never seen the accused, because even in the camera footage I only saw a tall man whose face I couldn’t recognize because the recording was in black and white. However, police in October last year, called and informed me that they had caught the suspected person who had broken into my office, and this is my first time to see him,” Waada said.
Prosecution led by Harriet Adong, alleges that Sipapa’s finger prints are the same as those of the person who broke into Waada’s office in 2019, and this is the reason he is before court to answer.
However, during the cross examination with defense lawyer Geoffrey Turwamusiima, Waada could not ascertain the exact amount of money that was stolen from his office, as the police statement he recorded stated a different amount from the court charge sheet.
He was also put to task to explain to court why he doesn’t think of his company employees as the ones who robbed the office, since the safe was just opened not broken into, yet two of them had keys to this safe.
The witness also didn’t have that the documentation like receipts to prove that he was the owner of the property that was stolen on that day, and court has asked him to bring them at the next sitting.
The magistrate has adjourned the matter to 3rd April 2023, for the next hearing, and decided that Waada will be on the stand to still answer other questions from the defense.
