KAMPALA – A top city lawyer, is under police investigation for allegedly ordering the torture to death of an employee, who allegedly stole cows from his farm in Butuntumula Sub-county, Luweero District.
Mr Richard Kiboneka of Nyanzi, Kiboneka and Mbabazi Company Advocates is accused of hiring men to clobber James Kalemera over the alleged theft of cows on the farm in Kayonza Village on Sunday.
Mr Paul Kangave, the Savanna Region Police Spokesperson, said the 28-year-old Kalemera was beaten to death during interrogation.
“The victim was allegedly beaten using clubs and burning plastics as a way of trying to get information about the whereabouts of cows that disappeared from the farm in September. Nobody has a right to kill. The act which was committed is unfortunate yet there are allegations that the owner of the farm who we are investigating ordered the torture of the victim till he breathed his last in the presence of his wife who also tried to plead for the safety of the husband,” Mr Kangave said in an interview.
Kalemera’s widow, Ms Helen Kaitesi, claimed that Mr Kiboneka hired five bouncers who tied her husband with ropes and tortured him for nearly four hours on Sunday afternoon as they told him to confess about the whereabouts of seven cows that disappeared from the farm in September.
“I pleaded with Kiboneka who is our boss at the farm to take my husband to police after as the men who were 4 in number beat and burnt with plastic my husband. Kiboneka and his group boarded their car and left the farm when my husband became unconscious at around 5:00 pm on Sunday. He later collapsed and breathed his last after asking me for a cup of water,” Ms Kaitesi said.
She claims that Kalemera became unconscious and his tormentors put him on a wheelbarrow and transferred him to his house where he breathed his last. The lawyer is also accused of denying the deceased his salary from the month of September over the cattle theft.
Mr Kangave said one suspect has been arrested over the matter.
“We are investigating Kiboneka’s alleged participation in the crime. We now have one suspect in police custody as investigations continue. Police is yet to get a postmortem report from the Luweero Health Centre IV where the body was transferred by police on Sunday evening to ascertain the cause of death,” he said.
We could not immediately contact Mr Kiboneka after someone received his phone and told us that the lawyer is sick and unable to comment.
Mr Salim Zimula, the Butuntumula Sub-county councillor, confirmed that a casual labourer had been beaten to death by a group of men at the farm.
“We demand justice as we organize for the burial of our resident. We are scared that the act was committed in broad daylight by people we expect to be custodians of the law,” Zimula said.
