KAMPALA – The involvement of police officers and the connection to the First Family has complicated the investigation into the murder of two people at Nambigirwa Bridge last Thursday evening along the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway, PML Daily has learnt.
Marinah Tumukunde, 37, was shot dead together with her friend, Joshua Rushegyera Nteireho, 38, as they headed towards Entebbe. The duo were travelling in a black Toyota Landcruiser number UAW 534B.
However, security sources close to the investigation have told this website that the involvement of security officers and guns has made the case a complex puzzle.
Three police officers working with the Directorate of Counter-Terrorism (CT) have since been arrested in connection with the murder. They are Davis Taremwa, Hassan Mugote and Wilson Atwijukire. The owner of the Prado, one Timothy, who is said not to have been in the car at the time of the incident, has also made a statement at police.
A joint team of CMI, ISO and CID are currently puzzled by how Nteireho obtained a gun that he was found clutching onto after being shot dead. He was shot on the left upper head and the bullet ripped through the right side of his head, which shattered his brain, killing him instantly.
The sub-machine gun, number UGPOL 563100699022697, which was recovered from Nteireho at the scene of the crime belonged to Taremwa, the police officer. According to Police, moments before the two were killed, Nteireho had asked Taremwa, who was believed to be his close friend, to escort him to a business meeting at Millennium Hotel in Zana where he and Merina were scheduled to meet with a car dealer. Police says Taremwa had withdrawn from his duty station to escort Joshua.
The police statement notes: “The officer withdrew from his beat (an act which was not justified based on the law and his training) and the 3 drove together to the Hotel. The circumstances surrounding their movement from Millennium Hotel, up to the stage where the shooting occurred at Nambigirwa Bridge, Mpala are still unclear. It is what the task team of investigators and forensic experts are working to determine.”
However, Taremwa is said to have told police that while at the hotel, Ntereiho sent him to call one Suubi from inside the hotel so that they could conclude a business deal. However, at this stage, Nteireho is said to have driven off together with Tumukunde, going with Taremwa’s gun and a headdress (cape), which the latter had left at the meeting table.
Indeed police confirmed that the headdress with 3 cartridges, an AK 47 gun, all belonging to Taremwa, were obtained at the scene of crime. Mobile phones were also obtained.
While preliminary details show that Tumukunde and Nteireho were shot by another person in the same car they were travelling in, another angle of investigation indicates that Nteireho was shot from outside the car, behind it, in what apparently appears like he was attempting to confront the killer.
Nteireho’s left hand was reportedly found tightly gripped to the barrel of the gun that was recovered.
Sources said another magazine with 30 rounds of ammunition was found at the co-driver’s seat in the car, together with a black Police headdress of the CT Police directorate and two cartridges. A chit bearing names of a detective sergeant only identified as Mutesi with force number 32693, were also recovered from the vehicle.
The incident is said to have happened about 100 metres from Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. Security agencies will also retrieve CCTV footage on the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway, where the shooting took place with a view to establishing the identities of other vehicle occupants.
