The judiciary has disputed reports that a judge was spotted in a secret meeting with Mathew Kanyamunyu who is on trial for murder of child-rights activist, Kenneth Akena.
This follows a photograph on social media showing a dark-blue Land Cruiser Prado registration number UG0762J reportedly seen in vicinity of Mathew Kanyamunyu. The social media report implied that the judge was in a secret meting with Kanyamunyu at Abba Hotel in Kyaliwajjala, Namugongo.
In a statement released on Saturday, the judiciary said the vehicle in the Facebook post is neither part of the fleet of the judiciary nor it is driven by any judge or any other official of the institution.
In the statement, the judiciary notes that not all vehicles with the “J” plates are for judiciary since other government bodies in the judicial sector use “J” plates.
The judiciary stated that it is an act of judicial misconduct for any judicial officer to have improper discussions with parties or counsel for one side in a case.
In 2016 Kanyamunyu drew a gun at Akena after he reportedly accidentally knocked his car in a parking lot in Lugogo, Kampala. Akena had reportedly gone to apologize to Kanyamunyu after the accident, but Kanyamunyu instead lowered the window of his car and shot him in the stomach with a pistol at close range.
Kanyamunyu is on trial together with his Burundian girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari and sibling Joseph Kanyamunyu who allegedly hid the killer gun. The trial is in advanced stages before the Criminal Division of the High Court in Kampala and the matter returns for hearing on Tuesday October 27, before Judge Stephen Mubiru.
However Kanyamunyu has since admitted to killing Akena and confessed that he has never comprehended the level of “stupidity”, “foolishness” or “evil” that he even did not know he had in him on that fateful day when he pulled the trigger.