national 4 September 2026 Daily Monitor (Uganda)
High Court Rejects Flash Drive with Katanga Residence Photos
The High Court has ruled against admitting a flash drive containing photographs of the Katanga residence, citing a failure by the defence to authenticate the electronic evidence. Justice Comfort Kania stated that while the photos were relevant, their integrity could not be proven. Source: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/court-rejects-flash-disc-containing-photos-of-katanga-s-residence-5583876
In the ongoing murder trial of businessman Henry Katanga, the High Court has denied the admission of a flash drive containing crucial photographs. The defence sought to introduce images taken at the Katanga residence by a defence witness, Eric Kulu, as evidence.
Justice Comfort Kania, presiding over the case involving the widow Molly Katanga and other co-accused, explained that the primary issue was not the relevance of the photographs but their authenticity. The prosecution had raised an objection to the defence’s attempt to present the images through witness testimony and display them on the court’s audio-visual equipment.
While acknowledging that electronic records are not automatically inadmissible simply because they are not in their original form, Justice Kania emphasized that such evidence must still meet standards for both relevance and authenticity. The defence’s argument relied on provisions within the Electronic Transactions Act and Regulations, which address metadata and the reliability of computer systems used in creating or storing electronic records.
However, the court found that the defence had not provided sufficient proof that the digital images remained complete and unaltered since their capture. A significant challenge arose when the defence witness testified that the original photographs had been deleted from both the memory card and the computer, making it impossible to produce the original files for comparison. Justice Kania noted that metadata, while potentially showing transfer history, does not necessarily confirm the integrity of the image itself.
The ruling contrasts with the court’s acceptance of a previously tendered WhatsApp message, where the sender confirmed its authenticity. In the case of the photographs, the lack of original files prevented the required level of verification. Molly Katanga is accused of murdering her husband, with her daughters and others facing charges of being accessories after the fact and destroying evidence.
The case has been adjourned to September 15 for further proceedings.
Source: Daily Monitor (Uganda)