Bukwo CAO’s Murder: Driver, Eric Chemusto, 6 Others Released on Bond
Eric Chemusto, the driver of the late former Bukwo District Chief Administrative Officer, Charles Ogwang is out on police bond after spending nearly two months in the custody of the Special Investigations Division without trial. Chemusto was arrested hours after Ogwang who had left him at Liberty Guest House in Kireka was killed in a volley of bullets on the night of July 8th, 2022 at Kiryowa village along Bombo road.
The police and military conducted a search near the crime scene where they arrested three people on the fateful night. Chemusto was apprehended the next morning. He led officers from the Crime Intelligence and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence to Buziga, Kisaasi and Bweyogerere where Ogwang had met various people hours before his gruesome death.
Police Spokesperson, Fred Enanga, says that Chemusto and other suspects were granted bond as the hunt for the actual killers continues. He, however, declined to reveal progress that has been made in the hunt for Ogwang’s killers.
Police sources say the investigating team has not gathered any leads that implicate Chemusto and the six suspects to the murder. Sources added that the release of Chemusto and co-accused was also prompted by ballistic analysis that has since showed that Ogwang’s killers had used the same gun to murder four people in Wakiso district in 2019.
“The CCTV footage at Liberty Guest House showed the deceased dropping his driver there and seemingly giving him instructions for their next meeting. Even those people who were picked from Bweyogerere and other areas, accepted that they met and even revealed the reasons for their meetings,” a source said.
URN reported the story of people who were killed using the same firearm used to murder Ogwang a fortnight ago. The dead were identified as Frank Anania, Amim Bugembe, Jimmy Atukuru and Frank Abaho.
Days after Ogwang’s brutal murder, Enanga explained that the security cameras had captured him driving himself in a government double cabin registration number UG-O865Z along the Kampala-Northern Bypass, through Bwaise to Kawempe and Kagoma where he spent one and a half hours. In his statement, Chemusto said his boss had told him to board a bus the next day and meet him in Mbale so that they could proceed to their work station in Bukwo district.
“I came driving him from Bukwo to Mbale. When we reached Mbale, he told me he had plans of traveling to Lira and afterwards come to Kampala. But he then changed his mind and we proceeded to Kampala. We went together to meet his people in various places in Kampala. At 8pm, he decided to leave at a Guest house in Kireka and drive himself to Lira,” Chemusto said according to the police.
Ogwang, according to Chemusto, even gave him money he would use to meet him in Mbale and they return to Bukwo. The driver said he also got to know that his boss had been killed later after trying to reach him on his known contacts in vain.
While struggling to catch a breath, Ogwang told health workers at Bombo military hospital where he was rushed that he was stopped by armed strangers in civilian attires. The attackers who were three in number asked him where he had left Ogwang.
He responded that he had left him in Kampala and was a mere driver. “They then asked me to give them by phone and wallet. They checked and saw my ID. They started shooting at me from the co-driver’s seat. I opened the driver’s door and I started running. I fell down because of many bullets,” Ogwang told health workers according to police.
The Army and police investigators collected 26 bullet casings from the murder scene. The casings belonged to two guns one which has since been established that had previously been used in the murder and robbery of more than Shillings 300 million.