No.
Preliminaries.
Clerk: All rise.
Judge: Please be seated, let’s proceed to hear the first matter on the
cause list.
Clerk: Uganda versus Karakire Cosmas & Ors. Criminal Session
No. 0124 of 2024, the Honourable Judge James Kabatsi Presiding.
Judge: State I hope you have concluded all your inquiries plus
investigations in this matter and you’re ready to proceed as earlier
scheduled.
State Attorney: My Lord we are ready to proceed with the hearing and
the complainant and the witnesses are in court.
Judge: Very well, defense Counsel any contentions at this time or you’re
equally ready to proceed?
Defense Counsel: My lord we shall reserve our contentions for the
hearing however, we are ready to proceed with the hearing.
Judge: State proceed and call your first witness.
State Attorney: Much Obliged, My lord.
Examination-in-chief.
State Attorney: My Lord, we pray that our first witness takes that
stand.
Judge: Granted, he may proceed.
Clerk: What religion do you profess?
Investigating Officer: I am a Christian.
Clerk: Please place your right hand on the Bible and repeat after me, I,
Kalenzi Rudolf swear by the Almighty God, that the evidence I shall
give touching this matter shall be the truth the whole truth so help me
God.
State Attorney: Good morning sir, please slowly State your full name for
purposes of court record.
Investigating Officer: My name is Kalenzi Rudolf.
State Attorney: Where do you work or what’s your profession?
Investigating Officer: I am a police investigator attached to Jinja Road
Police station, badge no. 4522100.
State Attorney: How long have you been an investigating officer with
the Uganda police?
Investigating Officer: For over 12 years now.
State Attorney: Great, What’s your educational background in this field?
Investigating Officer: After my Bachelor in Community phycology from
Makerere University I Undertook a Post graduate Diploma in
Criminology, Forensics and investigative science at the University of
Nottingham Trent in the UK and I did my residency at the Scotland yard
in the UK sponsored by JILOS in conjunction with Uganda Police.
State Attorney: What was your key role in this matter before the court?
Investigating Officer: I was the Investigating officer assigned to the
file.
State Attorney: When was the said case file aassigned to you?
Investigating Officer: On the 20th day of October, 2024.
State Attorney: What were your instructions?
Investigating Officer: I had instructions to peruse through the file and
undertake inquires vide Jinja road Police CRB 540/2024 reported by a
Congolese national, Mr. Gamboriko Pacifique.
State Attorney: What were your finding?
Investigating Officer: That on the 20/7/2024 at about 20:00 hours at
Middle East in Bugolobi, Kampala, the complainant who had been booked
into Angelica Hotel Apartments in Bugolobi, Kampala for a night was
conned of his money worth USD 105,000 by certain men still at large
with the aid of Police guards who had been deployed to guard two
adjacent banks at Bugolobi.
State Attorney: So how did you proceed?
Investigating Officer: I checked the deployment roster at Jinja road
Police Station for the fateful night to which I discovered that the two
accused had been deployed that evening at the adjacent Banks in
Bugolobi. I further investigated and found out that the duo had on the
early morning of 20th October 2024 returned to the armony the
two fiearms that they had signed for and they since went missing from
duty and absent without official leave.
State Attorney: Did you ever make any efforts to establish there where
abouts?
Investigating Officer: Oh yes I got their contacts from there
supervising officer to contact them but to non-avail since they were both
unavailable and switched off, we continued to trace them to there known
address but they were not found however on the 20th January 2025 we
coincidentally managed to trace them to their respective villages.
Karakire Cosmas was found in Rukungiri district while Nekorach was
found in Nebbi District. On the 21st February 2025, we through our
Regional Police managed to trace and arrest the duo and commandeered
their return to Jinja Road in Kampala.
State attorney: Through all this were you able to search and recover
anything?
Investigating Officer: Oh yes, we did.
State Attorney: So what did you recovered from your search?
Investigating Officer: We recovered USD 5000 from Nekorach’s village
house and USD 6000 from Karakire’s pockets. They could not account for
or give a convincing explanation for the source of the said amounts.
State Attorney: What did you do next?
Investigating Officer: We immediately took the two collegues into
custody and recorded their statements, we exhibited the recovered cash
which is now in our store.
State Attorney: What did you do to the money that you recovered?
Investigating Officer: We exhibited the recovered cash which is now in
our store however i have not yet recovered the whole sum.
Tendering in the recovered money.
State Attorney: My Lord we pray that we tender in the recovered money
as witness exhibit in chief.
Judge: The recovered money is tender in as the witness’ exhibit in chief.
State Attorney: Much obliged My lord, Is there anything else you would
like to state?
Investigating Officer: No, not at this time.
State Attorney: My Lord, the witness is ready for cross-examination.
Cross examination
Defense: What is your name again for purpose of Court record?
Investigating officer: My name is Kalenzi Rudolf.
Defense: Mr. Rudolf you said how many years have you been an
investigating officer?
Investigating Officer: More than 12 Years.
Defense: Through-out your experience, has any suspect been convicted
on circumstantial evidence?
Investigating office: No.
Defense: Mr. Rudolf Is it a crime for one to attend to their sick mother?
Investigating officer: No.
Defense: Isn’t it possible that someone can be given an appreciation
allowance at work for a good service?
Investigating officer: It is possible.
Defence: Did you make an effort to confirm whether atleast cosmas’
mother was sick?
Investigating officer: No.
Defense: Did you atleast make an effort to serialize the money before
making a conclusion that it was stolen?
Investigating officer: No, we did and its only because we have no direct
engagements with the US Federal reserve and even though we had, it
would take us upto an unquantifiable period of time to establish where it
was the money that was stolen.
Defense: Did you Conduct an identifying parade for the complainant to
identify the accused after the arrest to confirm your findings on the
roster?
Investigating officer: No.
Defense: My Lord no further questions for this witness.
