Kajjansi Chief Magistrate’s Court on September 14 heard evidence about alcohol and what a traffic officer described as opium allegedly found in the vehicle linked to John Baptist Kigozi in a fatal crash that killed two Next Media employees.
Producer Kasirye Badru and content creator Isaac Ndamagye died in the accident, while their colleague, entertainment journalist Macona Brian, survived with injuries.
A traffic officer told court that police found bottles of alcohol and what he described as opium inside Kigozi’s vehicle after the crash.
We found opium and alcohol in Kigozi’s car after the incident of the accident.
Kigozi’s lawyer quickly challenged any suggestion that the discovery proved his client had consumed the substances or driven while intoxicated.
The lawyer asked the officer whether simply having alcohol and the alleged opium inside the vehicle meant Kigozi had used them.
Does having those things in the car mean that you are drunk? Having opium and bottles of alcohol in the car, does it mean that you are using them or that you used them and you are drunk?
Kigozi will return to Kajjansi Court on Friday, September 18, when the court will consider his bail application.
The proceedings have also left the families of the two deceased employees waiting for answers as they follow the case.
Badru’s father said the family knows that neither his son nor Ndamagye will return, but wants justice to bring them some peace.
Badru and Isaac are not coming back to life, but at least let’s get justice so that we be at peace.
He said he was unhappy with some of the issues raised in court but would wait for the judicial process to take its course before seeing what happens on September 18.
Ndamagye’s mother, meanwhile, questioned Kigozi’s conduct after the crash, saying he never reached out to the families.
She accused him of fleeing after the incident and failing to show concern for the families who had lost their children.
He did not even bother looking for us after the incident, but instead he ran and did not care about us who lost the kids by him.
She said she wants the court to impose a severe sentence if it finds Kigozi guilty.
I want him to be imprisoned for life imprisonment if God wishes.
Kigozi will return to Kajjansi Court on September 18 as the case moves to its next stage, with his bail application among the issues before the court.