The Uganda Police Force has detained one of their own, a one Police Constable (PC) Davis Taremwa in connection with the murder of two people at Nambigirwa Bridge along the Entebbe Express Highway.
The police also clarified the identities of the deceased as Joshua Nteyireho Ruhegyera, a 38 year old understood to be from Bushenyi and Merina Tumukunde, a 37 year old from Mbarara. Police say that the identity of Merina was confirmed by her husband a one Mark Rugyenza of Bugolobi flats.
Police regretted an earlier statement in which it identified the woman as a Rwandan called Maya Florence Kamukazi.
The Police say that moments before the two were killed, Joshua Nteyireho had asked his close friend Davis Taremwa 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 Police says Taremwa had withdrawn from his duty station to escort Joshua.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 that: “Preliminary findings indicate that the male victim and PC Taremwa Davis have been very close friends. It is on friendly terms, that he requested the officer who was on guard duties, at Hidden Treasure Hotel Entebbe to escort him to Millennium Hotel in Zana, where they had arranged business transaction, with a car dealer, identified as Suubi Robert.
It adds: “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.”
The Police have confirmed that a headdress (cape) with 3 cartridges, an AK 47 gun, believed to belong to Teremwa, were obtained at the scene of crime. Mobile phones were also obtained.
Joshua’s Facebook page indicates he was a flambouyant fellow who boasted about rubbing shoulders with well-connected people including the brother of President Yoweri Museveni Michael Nuwagira, a.k.a Toyota Museveni as well as First Son Muhoozi Kainerugaba. In some videos, he was captured showing off large sums of cash.
Other sources also indicate that Joshua had previously confided in Teremwa that he was being trailed by people in tinted vehicles.
By the time of her death, Merina was reportedly carrying a Rwandan identification document with the names of Kamukazi, which explain the Police’s initial error.
