Buganda Road Chief Magistrate James Ereemye Mawanda has remanded five people, including a senior intelligence officer with the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), to Luzira prison over the murder of Finnish national in Kampala.
Tuomas Juha Petteri Teräsvuori was found dead in his room at the prestigious Pearl of Africa Hotel on February 5.
In a press conference on February 20, then police chief Kale Kayihura claimed that Teräsvuori and a Swedish national Alex Sebastian, died due to use of narcotics, claiming that drugs were found in their bodies. Sebastian was found dead on February 6 in his room an Sheraton Kampala hotel.
ISO Director for Political Affairs, Lt Col Joseph Aliganyira, addressing journalists on February 22, disputed the police report on the death of two foreigners.
Lt Col Aliganyira told journalists that the CCTV footage from Pearl of Africa Hotel where Petteri stayed was doctored and hence inconsistent with police reports.
“Some people treated us to funny information from a certain video photography trying to divert us from the right information. Most of that was acted, including that of the journalist who was part of the act,” Lt Col Aliganyira said.
“Police have their own report. We have our own report. They have the wrong CCTV footage, which was digitally manipulated,” he added then.
On Friday, Appollo Kyabagye, an ISO intelligence officer , the deceased’s girlfriend Fatuma Kabagambe, Caroline Alinda, Faridah Naggayi and a special hire driver Nasif Walusimbi were charged with manslaughter, forgery of a document purportedly signed by ISO Director General Col Kaka Bagyenda, trafficking in drugs and conspiracy to commit a felony to which they pleaded not guilty.
Prosecution states that the five connived to sneak into Teräsvuori’s hotel room and administered narcotics, which a post-mortem report indicates was the cause of his death.
They will return to court on the April 5,for mention of their case as police inquiries continue .
