Uttam Bhandari: Killer cop remanded to Luzira prison for murder
Police Constable Ivan Wabwire, who gunned down an Indian businessman last Friday has been remanded to Luzira prisons till 7th June 2023.
Wabwire 30, appeared before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s court where he was charged with murder contrary to sections 188 and 189 of the Penal Code Act.
Prosecution states that on May 12, 2023 at Raja Chambers along Parliamentary Avenue with malice aforethought, Wabwire killed Uttam Bhandari.
Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Sarah Tumusiime didn’t allow the suspect to plead to the charges because his charges are criminal.
This is the second time that the suspect is presented in Court, he first appeared on Monday afternoon for extrajudicial hearing where he had a three hour closed door session with presiding Magistrate Sienna Owomugisha.
Bhandari was the director of TFS financial services at Rajja Chambers along Parliament Avenue.
The cop was captured by Closed Circuit Television –CCTV on Friday shooting Bhandari after the duo seemingly developing an argument. In the video footage, Wabwire fires live bullets at one of the CCTV cameras before corking the gun at Bhandari, hitting him to the ground.
He walks out of the crime scene and returns moments later and is seen picking documents on the table and firing more bullets at his victim to ensure his dead. The suspect then flees into hiding.
Uttam Bhandari: Killer cop remanded to Luzira prison for murder
According to Enanga, Wabwire first acquired a loan worth one million shillings from TFS in 2020 which would accumulate an interest of 320,000 Shillings in 12 months. He acquired a second loan in 2021 of the same amount for the same interest rate and period but this time he defaulted.
Wabwire had gone to ask for a quotation so that the loan could be bought off by a bank.
“The suspect acquired an initial loan from TFS Financial Services on August 5, 2020 of Shs1, 000,000 with an interest of 320,000 after 12 months. The total remittance being 1,320,000 and or 12 monthly installments of Shs110,000. Again on the May 5, 2021, he acquired a second loan of Shs1,000,000 on similar terms, but defaulted on the loan,” Enanga said.
Over the weekend, Patrick Onyango the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson said Wabwire was mentally ill and denied access to a gun while on deployment. He explained that the suspect was diagnosed with a health condition six years ago and only deployed in areas where fire arms are not required.
“Due to the suspect’s medical condition, Police management at CPS Kampala had taken a decision about six years ago not to arm the suspect with a gun and they have been deploying him in beats that do require him to be armed. His current deployment was at a CCTV monitoring center,” Onyango said.
He added : “Due to limited accommodation, the suspect was sharing a house with a fellow police officer. His housemate had worked at night and didn’t return the gun to the armory instead he went with it to their house shortly, he got a call that his child was sick, he rushed to go and check on the child leaving the gun behind,” Onyango explained.
Wabwire was sharing a room with Police Constable Steven Mulambo. Mulambo has since been dismissed from the force.
Uttam Bhandari: Killer cop remanded to Luzira prison for murder
Compiled by Rashidah Nakaayi
