The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A panel of three Justices of the Court of Appeal have upheld the sentences of 30 and 42 years that were given to two brothers for the gruesome killing of a Rwandan migrant worker who was only identified as Kato in 2012.
The two brothers, Richard Bulega and Lasto Tomusange are respectively serving 30 and 42-year jail terms that have been confirmed by the first appeal court of the land.
Bulega was sentenced to 30 years based on his own plea of guilty whereas Tomusange had gone through full trial that saw the state adduce overwhelming evidence showing how Kato who had come from Rwanda and had no relatives in Uganda was gruesomely killed in Nsujjumpolwe village in Mpigi district.
The prosecution adduced evidence that Bulega picked the deceased from Mubende claiming to take him to Kampala to do some casual labour for Tomusange. But he never returned to the village and the two couldn’t give satisfactory answers.
Days later, evidence shows that Kato’s body was found decomposing next to a well in Nsujjumpolwe village in Mpigi district with a hammer and a wooden handle next to it. In the same month, the body of an infant identified as Angello Sebugwawo, a son to Tomusange was recovered.
Upon arrest, the evidence shows that the two brothers had killed the said individuals with intentions of sacrificing them for riches and having the happiness in this world.
But after pleading guilty, Bulega was used as a state witness but he turned hostile and said their step mother had advised him to incriminate his co-accused so that if they are jailed, she would sell their land and then get him out of prison.
The High Court disbelieved his second version of the story and later sentenced them to the said years which they appealed that they were excessive and bad in law.
Now in their decision, the Justices of the Court of Appeal comprising of the Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, Catherine Bamugemereire and Remmy Kasule, noted that the convicts were not first time offenders since they had already killed someone else. To them, the appellants should have been condemned to suffer death but the lower court instead handed them a befitting sentence and not harsh and excessive as they had claimed.
“Having carefully considered the manner in which the offense was committed, we draw the inference that this was a ritual sacrifice which would attract a death penalty. We however do note the mitigating factors that were taken into account…. they were youthful and had family…”, reads the decision in part.
The Justices have now concurred with the lower court that ruled that the sentences were neither harsh nor excessive and therefore there is no reason to interfere with them.
The two brothers have been in Luzira prison since their arrest in 2012.
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