Katanga Shooting: Investigators say crime scene was ‘tampered’ with before police arrival

Kampala, (UG): A team of investigating officers probing the murder by shooting of City businessman Henry Katanga have revealed that the scene of crime was tampered with before police arrived.

Katanga was allegedly shot and killed following a bitter quarrel with his wife Molly Katanga at their matrimonial home in Mbuya, a Kampala upscale suburb. 

Local newspaper Monitor on Friday reported that the investigators in an interview with the publication said the late’s body was found lying in the living room and yet the shooting happened in the master bedroom. 

“The half-naked body with a bandaged wound on the head had been put on a small mattress with bedsheets on the floor. It had been covered with pink bedsheets with blood drips all over the sitting room,” Monito reports, quoting the unnamed investigator.

Evidence gathered from the crime scene indicates that Katanga, (who at the time of his death was a prominent dealer with the UPDF) was shot in his master bedroom and the body was shifted from the bedroom to the sitting room.

“The alleged killer-pistol was found on the bed in the master bedroom. The white bedsheets on the bed were stained with blood believed to be from Katanga after the shooting,” reports the newspaper.

According to the lead investigator, who doubles as a homicide expert, by the time police reached the crime scene, they found the body already partially processed to be taken to Kampala City Mortuary for further management.

“This means that the evidence that was collected from the scene may not be sufficient enough because the scene was tampered with,” the investigator told the publication in a Thursday interview.

“At the crime scene, the position of the body was reportedly tampered with, making it difficult to ascertain at what point the shooting occurred. The probe will require a comprehensive postmortem report to establish the original position of the body.”

The investigator was however quick to add that they collected fingerprints and footage of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) that are helping them in the investigation.

A close family friend Gen Sam Kavuma had Friday asked mourners to desist from speculation that Molly had killed her husband because what could have transpired between two lovers who had been together for over 30 years, only Molly would tell what happened once she stabilizes.

Suicide?

Katanga’s sister, Naome Nyangweso, who is experienced in security having served in Iddi Amin’s most dreaded Nakasero State Research Bureau ruled out suicide saying her brother was right-handed and the bullet wounds were on the left side of the head and the thigh.

“I went to the mortuary with a purpose. I wanted to see the bullet wounds and I saw. There is no way that could have been suicide. It is disheartening that the media reported how Henry returned home in the morning, drunk and shot himself,” she condemned the media.

The first narrative carried by the major media houses suggested that Katanga after a brawl with his wife, stabbed her with a sharp object on the head and she became unconscious. Thinking he had killed her, he also picked a gun and took his life.

To Naome, this version of the events is not only derogatory but also undermines the person of who Henry Katana was.

She told mourners that Katanga had processed a WILL which she had not gotten a chance to read. He was over-protecting it since it had not been commissioned by the Commissioner of Oaths.

Katanga an astute businessman had been taking care of many children who belonged to his dead siblings. Following Katanga’s death, Naome remains the only surviving child of her mother out of 9.

Molly and Katanga have been running a multi-billion procurement and supplies firm MERGE- whose top clients include Special Forces Command (SFC), UPDF, Uganda Police, Office of the Prime Minister, Civil Aviation Authority, and State House, among others.

At the time of writing this report, the Late Katanga’s widow was still admitted at C-Care Hospital in Kampala where she was rushed after going unconscious in the aftermath of the shooting.