The investigation into the murder of businessman Henry Katanga has encountered a new development. The Uganda Police Force recently clashed with the relatives of the main suspect, Molly Katanga, at IHK Hospital in Namuwongo, Kampala. Molly is currently receiving medical treatment at the hospital.

The businesswoman’s lawyers, Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA), say Police threatened to arrest one of Molly’s associates for obstruction of the law enforcement body’s work.

“On 12 December 2023, our Client was operated on her head at C-Care – IHK Hospital for the fifth time.  However, during the operation, the Uganda Police officers forcefully tried to enter the theatre where our client was being operated on,” said KAA in a letter to the Principal Judge dated December 13, 2023.

“Our Client’s next of kin who had been monitoring our Client while she received treatment took photographs and video recordings of the rowdy police attempt to access the Theatre,” the lawyers added.

“Upon the police officers noticing that they were being recorded, Constable Mangeni confronted our Client’s next of kin and demanded the deletion of the recordings. Our client’s next of kin refused to delete the recordings and the police officers tried to arrest him on allegations that he was an obstacle to the administration of justice.”

On November 21, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) preferred criminal charges against Molly for the alleged murder of Katanga at their matrimonial home in Mbuya, a Kampala suburb.

The DPP said Molly was not produced in court because she was undergoing treatment at C-Care – IHK Hospital.

Conflict 

This angered Katanga’s family members who have accused Molly of playing delaying tactics to evade prosecution.

They claimed in several media statements that Molly was not ill as earlier thought and should therefore be paraded before courts of law to face the law.

In one of the statements which went viral on social media, Molly’s brother-in-law,

“At what point in time, then, did you start walking unaided in the parking lot of IHK hospital in the full glare of Ferry Kyamanianga, Tricia’s mother-in-law, with whom you even had a meet and greet moment shortly before you checked yourself into the ICU facility?” wondered Mudingi.

“Molly; who would ever answer for you and let alone provide justification for your unexplained “campfire” at IHK hospital for two consecutive days on October 31st and November 1st 2023 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm (on both days) and near-miracle coincidence that on November 2nd, you booked into the same hospital where you had a campfire on two occasions the previous two days?” he alleged.

The case involves prominent wealthy military families who are now using state organs to undermine each other’s case.

The family of Katanga believe Molly intentionally took her husband’s life.

However, Molly’s close associates have tried to project her as a victim of domestic violence who sustained injuries from physical assault by her deceased husband.

According to KAA, following the numerous surgeries performed on Molly, she has experienced stagnated healing in certain regions of her scalp, evidenced by persistent scabs and blackening of the region and dizziness which has impacted her mobility and comfort in general.

As a result, the doctors recommended that Molly undergo a brain MRI scan to establish the root cause of the stagnated healing/ blackening of certain regions of her scalp and the progressive dizziness.

Hospital room

“However, due to the stationing of police at our Client’s hospital room, and the need for police clearance to undertake any medical procedures on our Client, it proved to be a herculean task to get our client to an MRI scan as the police actively blocked it and subsequently transported her to Rubi Hospital not in an ambulance but in a police car,” said KAA.

“Police officers such as Bob Kagarura and Wathum Benson have previously forcefully entered the hospital theatre and even the ICU where our Client is receiving treatment and coerced the hospital staff into discharging our Client from the Hospital so that she “should be produced in court” and remanded in Luzira.”

The lawyers argue that being charged with murder while being grievously injured doesn’t do away with Molly’s constitutional right to life, right of privacy and most importantly the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

They further argued that since this is a court of guided process and all parties including the Director of Public Prosecution are all officers of Court, the Principal Judge should prevail over the “blatant abuse of our Client’s rights while she awaits ot appear in court on the 8th of January 2024 as ordered by court.”

“The purpose of this letter is to request that you invoke your constitutional administrative powers to stop the different entities from interfering with our client’s medical treatment and care and trial. Further, we request that you issue clear directions on how the ongoing criminal proceedings should be conducted to prevent the ongoing trial by media based entirely on leaks of information by the Police or third parties.”

The court issued a summons to Molly to appear in court on 8th January 2024 when the matter will come up for mention.

***

Additional reporting by Chimpreports