Court awards UGX 75m to girl hit by stray bullet

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Court has awarded 75 million shillings to a girl who was injured by a stray bullet.

Grace Nabwami, a former student of Makerere University Business School-MUBS was in 2013 hit by a stray bullet fired by a police officer attached to Kabalagala police station. The officer was pursuing a suspect armed with a knife and was threatening to harm people who had sought refuge in a nearby internet café.

According to court, Nabwami a resident of Central Zone, Makindye division was outside her house witnessing the scuffle. The police officer fired a bullet hitting her in the right neck area.

In 2016, Nabwami sued the government seeking 200 million shillings compensation for damages resulting from the negligence of the officer.

In his ruling delivered on Friday, Justice Musa Ssekaana said that the police officer had a duty to avoid injuring innocent civilians during his actions.

“It is his duty of reasonable police officer not to harm innocent civilians in the course of executing his duties of enforcing law and order “, he said.

Ssekaana added that a police officer was armed with a very dangerous weapon which requires greater skills and care.

“The errant police officer shot randomly and carelessly and the stray bullet injured the plaintiff (Nabwami). This pointed towards wrongful or negligent use of the gun in performance of his duties in the course of his employment as a police officer”, said Ssekaana

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