Woman accuses lover of conniving with police officer to rob her

Entebbe/Kampala. Entebbe police commander has been accused of allegedly conniving with a conman to defraud a woman of more than Shs9 million and using his office to subvert investigations against himself.
Mr Godfrey Ninsiima, however, denies the allegations. “Those are defamatory statements. It is not true. If you are interested in writing, you can write,” Mr Ninsiima said when contacted about the allegations.

Ms Loyce Twizukye had just returned from Malaysia in October 2015, where she had been working when she met Mr Eddy Kato, a mechanic at a garage behind Entebbe Central Market.
The two got involved in a romantic relationship and this is what Mr Kato, with the help of Mr Ninsiima, the Entebbe DPC, are alleged to have exploited.

It all started when Ms Ninsiima brought her Toyota Premio car for repair to the garage behind Entebbe Central Market where Mr Kato works. Mr Kato offered to drive her back home in his Toyota Spacio car while her Premio was being fixed. She accepted.
Hours later, at around 8 pm, she received a call from Mr Kato telling her he had knocked a boda boda cyclist using his (Kato’s) car and that the boda boda man was critically injured in hospital. Ms Twizukye promised to go with him the following day to see the victim.

But before they could go to the hospital, she received another call from Mr Kato early in the morning, indicating that the patient was in critical condition and had been referred to Mulago hospital for further treatment. He told her they needed to go to police.
Ms Twizukye accepted and the couple went to police where they met a man who introduced himself as a police officer. He confirmed to her the accident had happened but when she inquired about Kato’s car, Kato told her he had talked to the police officers and was allowed to take it away. The police officer demanded Shs500,000 on behalf of the boda boda victim’s family.

Ms Twizukye rushed with this officer and Mr Kato to the bank where she withdrew the money and paid the officer. That was the last time she would see that particular officer.
The following morning, Ms Twizukye received a call informing her that the boda boda rider had died. Kato told her that the family of deceased now wanted Shs15 million to settle the case, and that they had asked him to pay Shs8 million as down payment. The rest would be paid after burial.
He told her that he had Shs6 million saved and asked her to top up with Shs2 million to save him from going to jail. She obliged.
The next morning they drove Ms Twizukye’s Premio to Kampala to sell it so that they could raise Shs2 million. Mr Kato brought a friend along. Ms Twizukye also came with her friend, Sandra Nabunya.

Mr Kato’s friend directed them to the Pine Car bond where they sold the vehicle for Shs6.8 million cash. After the deal Mr Kato left the trio to return to Entebbe in a taxi.
On their way back to Entebbe, Mr Kato called DPC Ninsiima, who he said would finalise everything.

The DPC confirmed that he was in office and they went straight to Entebbe Police Station. The two ladies waited at the reception as Mr Kato went upstairs. He returned with a story that the DPC had asked for Shs3 million to add to Kato’s Shs6 million to give the family Shs9 million for the matter to be completely settled.
On their way to the DPC’s office, they saw Mr Ivan Kadala, a detective constable (DC) who would later be implicated in the alleged scam.

The trio went to the DPC’s office and Mr Kato did the introductions. After exchanging pleasantries, Ms Twizukye was asked to hand over the money personally to DPC Ninsiima reportdly who received it.
“I personally counted the Shs3 million and presented it to the DPC who was seated behind his desk,” Ms Twizukye told Daily Monitor.
After cracking a few jokes, including one where the DPC asked Kato to get him a woman like Ms Twizukye, the trio left. Outside the station, Mr Kato briefly spoke to policemen who seemed to know him.
After about 10 minutes, he left with the women and walked up to the nearby bus park next to Fish Market. Here Ms Twizukye and Ms Nabunya took a boda boda.

In the following days, Kato would receive phone calls from the DPC allegedly communicating the demands from the boda boda man’s family and he would in turn ask Ms Twizukye to come to his rescue.
Shs2 million, Shs1 million etc. Each time, she says she rushed to the bank, get the money and give it to Mr Kato to take to the DPC.
In all, she says she handed over Shs9.6 million to Mr Kato, the DPC and the ‘police officer’ who received the first Shs500,000.
Meanwhile, Kato gave her all excuses for not paying her back, including having money being stolen from him in Kampala after selling his land in the village.

Mr Ninsiima later told Daily Monitor that he got to know Mr Kato when he repaired police vehicles. But he refuted Ms Twizukye’s claim that he had personally received the Shs3 million from her.
“They just dropped something in a black kaveera (polythene bag) and they said they were coming back,” Mr Ninsiima said, adding that Mr Kato had returned and taken the polythene bag.
It took more than four months for Ms Twizukye to realise that she had been conned after Mr Kato was arrested for defrauding another person.
When she went to see him at the police, she learnt that the accident she had been told about never happened. She began to put the pieces together.
But the fact that the DPC had been involved and Mr Kato being her lover gave Ms Twizukye, a ray of hope. She still believed she had not been conned.

Together with two other policemen, Ms Twizukye confronted the DPC to find out the truth. Instead, the DPC dismissed them on arrival, saying he had received the money on behalf of Kato who had picked it before the two women could make it to the front desk of the police station. He denied any knowledge of Kato’s plans or actions.
However, Ms Twizukye denies Mr Ninsiima’s account, saying she had stayed with Mr Kato for more than 40 minutes after they handed over the money to the DPC and that there is no way Mr Kato could have returned to pick the money immediately. Also, she wonders what relationship the DPC had with Kato to start receiving money on his behalf.

Ms Twizukye opened a case with the police. In her statement she implicated both Mr Kato and DPC Ninsiima but after going through her statement, the detectives summoned her and advised her to make a second statement leaving out Mr Ninsiima and saying she had only lent Kato money and he had refused to pay. She refused.
The detectives drafted the statement but after reading through, she again refused to sign.
At the police station, Ms Ninsiima entered into an agreement with Mr Kato who promised to pay back the money owed to her by November 15. The two signed an agreement and Mr Kato was given bail. By November 15 he had not paid and she went back to police. Kato was called and he promised to pay by November 30.

Missing file
It is on that day that Ms Twizukye was called and told by a detective only identified as Adyere that her file had gone missing and that she had signed the agreement with Kato to pay back the money when the file had already gone missing. She wondered why she had not been told. Mr Adyere told her he was unsure of how the file had gone missing but advised her to go slow since the matter involved the “big man”.
She refused to record a second statement but was told there would be no case without her making the statement. The detectives drafted the statement which implicated Mr Kadala and she signed it.

Realising that her pursuit to get her money back was in futility, Ms Twizukye contacted a police friend of hers who gave her the contact of the “commander”.
The “commander” she contacted was Mr Fortunate Habyala, the commandant of Police’s Professional Standard Unit (PSU). After the call, Mr Habyala called the police in Entebbe and Mr Kato was immediately arrested.

Mr Habyala confirms that he received Ms Twizukye’s complaint. “She called me and told me of her problem and I acted by calling the DPC to investigate. I also asked her to come to my office and formally complain but she has never come here,” Mr Habyala said.
Ms Twizukye, however, says she asked for directions to his office from Mr Habyala who promised to avail them but he never did. On the second attempt to go to his office, Mr Habyala told her, he was travelling.

Following the arrest, Mr Kato was taken to court and Ms Twizukye was told he would be appearing before the magistrate at 2 pm on November 23 She prepared but when she got to court, she was told Kato had been charged earlier at 12 pm.
While she pondered on what to do next, police detectives driving a private car picked Mr Kato who had been remanded to Kigo Prison and took him back to the police station. When she inquired why this had happened, the detectives told her that Mr Kato’s personal belongings -- a belt and shoes, had gone missing and he couldn’t be taken to prison without them. She continued following the matter and after some time she was told Kato had been transferred to the prison facility.

Police officer arrested over case

On November 18, Mr Kadala, a general crimes detective at Entebbe Police, was arrested for allegedly stealing Ms Twizukye’s file. Mr Kadala who was off duty, says he was summoned by the acting OC CID Richard Amvuku back to the station. On getting to the station, he was received by Mr Cylus Ahimbisibwe who escorted him to DPC Ninsiima’s office.
In the office were DPC Ninsiima, Mr Amvuku and other officers and Mr Kato, the prime suspect.
DPC Niinsima informed Mr Kadala that he had stolen the file, a charge he vehemently denied, informing his boss that the said file was in Economic Crimes and not in General Crimes where he works.
Mr Kadala informed his boss and the other officers that if the file was lost or stolen like they were alleging, there was still an option of making another one since the complainant was there.

DPC Ninsiima declined his request saying that he had been ordered by the PSU commandant to detain Mr Kadala.
“I was detained from November 18 to November 25 under different charges (Discreditable Conduct). I wasn’t presented before a Police Disciplinary court,” DC Kadala said.
On November 25, Mr Kadala was jointly charged with obtaining money by false pretence and conspiracy to commit a felony before Entebbe Chief Magistrate Mary Kaitesi Kisakye.
He was granted bail while Mr Kato was remanded to Kigo Prison. “After getting bail, I was called by DPC Ninsiima saying we should reconcile,” Mr Kadala said in an interview.
He has since been suspended by DPC Ninsiima from work.

“All the above transactions happened in my absence and I only heard about them in rumours but I have now innocently become a sacrifice at the expense of the DPC who even stopped me from working and threatens to continue with the same as long as he is the DPC of Entebbe as all the other officers have been handling the matter as per his interest,” Mr Kadala said.
DPC Ninsiima, however, says his investigations team discovered Mr Kato had been working with Mr Kadala “from the start to deceive that lady”. He says he only learnt of Mr Kadala’s involvement after a call from Mr Habyala.
Ms Twizukye on the other hand maintains that it is DPC Niinsima and Mr Kato who stole her money. She says she has learnt of plans to sentence Kato to serve out time in prison equivalent to her money.

“All I want is my money from DPC Niinsima and Kato, I am a poor woman. If they are going to sentence him without paying back my money, they might as well let him walk free…”
Mr Kadala has in a November 29 letter petitioned the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to recall the case file for “independent decision and directives”. The file was received by the DPP’s Nakawa Regional Office on the same day.
“Because the State Attorney’s directive to have him (Ninsiima) charged might be suppressed by his influence at the DCC level”.
Ms Jane Kajuga, the DPP spokesperson, said she was yet to read the specifics of Mr Kadala’s complaint. But as standard practice, she said, “The file will be called in light of the facts we shall have. The decision we take is what is going to influence what will happen in court.”

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