The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Martin Okoth Ochola has asked the Commissioner–in-charge, Private Firearms and Security Organizations to ensure that all private security guards are re-trained and equipped with the required skills on rules of engagement and use of reasonable force in the course of their duties.
Ochola’s call follows the gruesome murder of Tegu Emmanuel,a 24-year-old male student of Makerere University a few days ago.
According to the prevailing facts on 27.06.2020, the victim left his sister Rachael Ariongeti’s home, at Namungoona where he also stayed with his brother Sam Okwalinga and proceeded to his church at Makerere. He did not return home.
At around 10 pm while moving with the University’s premises, deceased was hit by a metallic chair from the visitor’s tent, and it’s at this stage that he cried out for help, which attracted about 10-15 residents from Zone 1 and West road quarters around Lumumba hall. Among the responders were a few youths who joined the private security guards and violently assaulted the victim, whom they suspected to be a thief.
It is after the intervention of the Chaplain, St Augustine Church Makerere that the private guards and the few charged residents stopped torturing the victim and alerted the police about him. The police team responded and rushed the victim to Mulago National Referral Hospital. The following day of 28.06.2020, he was traced at the hospital by his brother and discharged on 29.06.2020. Unfortunately while at home his life begun to deteriorate and he was further referred to Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kiruddu where he died on 3.07.2020.
However, Ochola whose massage was delivered by Police spokesperson Fred Enanga on Thursday, said that if the three suspected private security guards of SGA had handled the deceased tactfully, no life would have been lost. Currently, four suspects have been charged for Tegu’s murder. These include Oigu Charles; a 34-year-old Area Councilor; Nyeko Balam, a 33-year-old security guard; Kakuru Johnson, a 24-year-old resident of Makerere and Sekitoleko Moses, a 21-year-old resident of Makerere.
Enanga added that the investigation into the matter is still open since some suspects are still missing according to the CCTV footage.
“The scene was reconstructed and a few key pieces of evidence including CCTV footage from St Augustine Church, metallic chairs from the visitors’ tent at the banks which were used as a weapon against the victim, a wire rod and relevant witness statements recorded. We would like to inform the public that the investigations are still open and we have clues about three more suspects who are still at large” said Enanga.
“Meanwhile it is not true that police management blocked media requests to access the CCTV footages. We do advise them to liaise with the church since it is private footage, and also with the family of the deceased since the public display of the images could be very disturbing. The copy retrieved by police has been taken in evidence and exhibited,” he said.
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