MASAKA: The trial of Musa Ggaliwango, the main suspect in a wave of killings and robberies in Masaka in 2018, has come to a halt owing to threats made against state witnesses.
Ggaliwango is one of two suspects who fled from the Masaka Chief Magistrate Court in March 2018 as they were being brought for trial on allegations of murder and aggravated robbery perpetrated in the districts of Bukomansimbi, Masaka, and Lwengo.
He fled alongside his accomplice, Muhammad Kiddawalime, who was later killed by a mob in a foiled robbery attempt in Kalungu District. Following his re-arrest in April 2018, Ggaliwango had been on remand at Luzira Maximum Prison until last week, when the state preferred to resume his trial before the Masaka High Court.
His three other accomplices, Innocent Nakabaale, Joseph Tetuteesa, and Godfrey Lubega, were on Friday presented before Masaka High Court presided over by Lady Justice Anna Bitature Mugenyi. But their trial did not commence after the state witnesses raised security concerns over their lives before they declined to testify in court.
Richard Birivumbuka, the Masaka Resident Chief State Attorney, told the court that three of the principal witnesses have notified him of the imminent threats to their lives from the suspect’s family and pleaded for security before they can testify in the matter.
He said that although the state was ready to sustain the prosecution after it obtained enough evidence and witnesses, he did not want to take the risk of compromising the safety of the state witnesses.
Birivumbuka requested the court to adjourn the trial of the suspects and prepare a special arrangement under which the witnesses would freely give their testimonies without fear.
Justice Mugenyi ruled that the hearing of the case should be delayed until the safety of the witnesses is provided. The judge ruled that she was adjourning the hearing to a later date, which she said would be communicated to the parties.
According to the charge sheet on the court record, the suspects are charged with several offences of robbery and murder, which include, among others, the killing of a retired Senior Superintendent of Police, Denis Lumala Ssebugwawo, and four other members of his family after thugs raided their home in Bukomansimbi district on New Year’s Eve of 2018.