Mathew Kirabo’s sureties have beefed up their security, saying that their lives are in danger.
Kirabo is accused of masterminding the murder of his girlfriend.
The sureties include Kirabo’s mother, Imelda Wabulembo, uncle Bernard Mbayo and relative Elizabeth Baleke.
On Monday, the three showed up for the case hearing at the Mukono High Court amidst tight security, claiming that their lives are in danger.
Judge Henry Kaweesa Isabirye did not show up for the hearing, leaving both parties stranded at court.
Emmanuel Musoke who is the father of the late Desire Mirembe said that they were surprised to see the sureties heavily guarded, but said that they do not have a problem with it.
READ ALSO: Court orders sureties of murder suspect Kirabo to pay UGX 150M
“They are now being guarded, we have heard that they said we were planning to attack them but that is not true, we are a family that respects the law,” Musoke told NBS Television.
Defence lawyer Dalton Apwonya, in a quick interview with NBS Television said that there is no problem with the sureties getting security if they feel their lives are in danger.
“There is absolutely no problem with that,” Apwonya said.
Meanwhile the accused, Mathew Kirabo is still AWOL as no one seems to know where he is.
Last week, the three sureties paid shs 150 million to avoid serving jail term as the judge tasked them to either present Kirabo, pay the shs 150m or go to jail.
Mirembe, a then Makerere University student disappeared and her body was recovered from a sugarcane plantation in Lugazi, Buikwe district, on July 7, 2015.
Her suspected killer, Mathew Kirabo confessed to the gruesome act and was charged in the Jinja Magistrates Court with murder before being remanded. He was later granted bail on November 24, 2016 and has been out of prison since.
The case was later moved to Mukono on the instructions of the then Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine after the state complained that the crime had been committed within the Mukono jurisdiction.
In 2017, the Mukono High Court said that it did not have money to start hearing the case.
In May 2021, court in Mukono heard the prime suspect, Mathew Kirabo’s application in which he was seeking return of his passport so that he could travel to the United States of America for further studies.
Kirabo’s lawyer, Isaac Kato told court then that his client needed to travel urgently and could not even make it to court. The suspect was, however, found in his car, a black Harrier SUV just outside court.
The family then mounted pressure on court to dispense justice for their fallen daughter, saying that if a date could be fixed to hear the suspect’s application, then they should also fix a date to hear the main case.
Kirabo only attended two sessions of court before he went awol.
