Kayumba Nyamwasa: Witness cries in court amid emotion testimony

By RNA reporter 

Friday, 01 July 2011

 

Photo: Gen. Nyamwasa at the Amahoro National Stadium

in Kigali during an event

Kigali: The top witness in the Kayumba Nyamwasa shooting case says he could be killed anytime as a result of the information he knows about the incident and on one of the six men charged with attempted murder, RNA reports.

Kalisa Mubarak told the Jonesburg Magistrate’s court Friday that right from June 19 2010, the day when Nyamwasa was shot, he has been in hiding as “gangs” have tried to kill him. They even vandalized my saloon when they failed to find me, said Mubarak.

Wearing a scuff and dark glasses which he has been using to cover part of his face, Mubarak narrated that when news spread that Nyamwasa had been shot, he called Amani Uriwani, one of the six accused. As RNA has reported over the past week, Mubarak and Uriwani are said to be childhood friends.

The story, according to Mubarak goes that on that fateful day, he called Uriwani immediately after getting the news because the accused man had confided in him weeks before about the possible incident.

At this point the prosecutor asked Mubarak said to Uriwani. “I cannot imagine what you have just done,” is how Mubarak quoted himself. Then the Prosecutor asked what Uriwani responded and in what mood he was. “He (Uriwani) pleaded with me not to tell anyone but he was very shaken,” said Mubarak.

According to prosecution, Uriwani was the driver of the vehicle in which the man who shot Nyamwasa is believed to have jumped into and it spade off.

Mubarak said he later returned home and found Uriwani and another person waiting there, in a white Nissan truck with no license plates.

"I see that maybe I can be killed to not show the evidence," he told the court.

Mubarak described fleeing to Cape Town after the shooting, then returning to Johannesburg and hopping from hotel to hotel, worrying his life was in danger.

He broke down on the witness stand telling how he feared for his pregnant wife, lifting the dark sunglasses he has worn throughout his testimony to wipe his eyes with a scarf.

Mubarak said after he helped police find and arrest Uriwani, five gunmen attacked his beauty salon in Johannesburg.

The trial will resume on October 24 and run through November 4, when defence attorneys will cross-examine Mubarak.

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