COURT OF APPEAL UPHOLDS 17 YEAR JAIL SENTENCE HANDED TO RUKUNGIRI MAN

By AMBROSE KWERONDA

KABALE

The Court of Appeal sitting in Kabale has upheld a 17 –year jail sentence which was handed to Obed Mugahwenkyi who was convicted for stealing from his teacher in Rukungiri District.

Obed Mugahwenkyi was on May 17th 2018 sentenced to 17 years in Prison by the Rukungiri High Court by Justice Moses Kawumi Kazibwe over aggravated robbery.

Mugahwenkyi who was a secondary school student as well a businessman went into a business deal with his teacher.
It is said that after making the deal, the two went for an outing where they drunk till late.
Mugahwenki is said to have later lured his victim to his home where he turned against him and robbed him of Ugx 500.000= using a Machete with which he cut him several times on the face and head.

In his appeal, Mugahwenkyi contends that the learned trial judge Moses Kazibwe Kawumi erred in law and fact when he failed to evaluate the evidence on record.

In their unanimous decision, the three justices Lady Justices Irene Mulyagonja, Eva Luswata, and Justice Christopher Gashirabake ruled that the trial Judge acted in accordance with the law in convicting and sentencing the Appellant and thus dismissed the appeal.

“The appellant will continue to serve the 17 years imprisonment from the date of conviction,” court ruled.

The justices noted that the sentence was not illegal or harsh since he deducted the 1 year the appellant had spent on remand and thus sentenced him to 17 years

led