KAMPALA-High Court judge Margaret Mutonyi has sentenced a 44 year old Inspector of Police (IP) Abura Emmanuel to 50 years in prison for murdering 9 year old Namawejje Patience a resident of Nalya Estate Kira Municipality in Wakiso district.
On convicting Abura, the prosecution proved all grounds of murder that it was him who killed the girl by hanging her uncles house on 6th November 2021.
Before sentencing him , the trial judge noted that she has considered both mitigating and aggravating factors
“ The convict has not exhbited any remorse , he had more consideration for himself and family. Court observed that he uses his disability as a tool to attract sympathy.”
The judge stated that after deducting the seven months and 21 days , Abura has spent on remand, he will serve 49 years , four months and ten days.
“Disability didn’t stop him from committing a crime so its not an aggravating factor. The convict who is a Police officer at the rank of IP killed an innocent young child in a very notorious manner. Much as he was walking with a clutch , he had a duty to protect the young girl but instead resorted to killing her.”
Court has informed the convict that he has a right to appeal once he is not satisfied with both conviction and sentence.
This sentence has been welcomed by the deceased’s relatives led by her mother who broke down into tears at court after this decision.
Background
The fact of the case presented to court by the Prosecutor (Barbara Kyomugisha) was that the accused IP Abura Emmanuel Wilson was a 44 year Old Police Officer and a resident of the same Estate as the deceased and in fact the deceased and accused lived under the same roof sharing the same house that was allocated to both IP Abura and CPL Mwonda Joel an uncle to the deceased.
That misunderstandings went worse to the extent of not greeting each other and the two were always involved in squabbles that were brought to the attention of the police administration that tried to reconcile the two families but reconciliation failed and the grudge persisted.
It was also brought to court’s attention that a one time IP Abura and CPL Mwonda engaged in a bitter quarrel where he threatened to harm CPL Mwonda and members of his family.
The deceased Namaweje Patience recorded the accused while uttering the threats using her mother’s phone and the accused got to know about the recording which didn’t go well with him.
That on the 6th day of November 2021, the deceased’s mother one Takali Lydia left her home at about 5:30 p.m. and went to the shop where she spent about 30 minutes and came back.
The deceased’s mother come back home but found the door locked and looked for the deceased but she was nowhere to be seen, she called out her name but she wasn’t answering yet door was locked from inside.
The deceased’s mother requested IP Abura’s children to help her use their side to access hers so that they could open for her the door which was locked from inside.
That one of the deceased’s children crossed into CPL Mwonda side and opened the door and on the entering the deceased’s mother saw her daughter hanged using a police lane yard and she was already dead.
The deceased’s mother made an alarm that attracted neighbors and the L.C. S among others who rushed to the scene and on seeing the body and the state it was in, information started coming in that there is no way a 9 year could have hanged herself, that it was most likely that she was murdered and the accused, IP Abura was pointed at as the principal suspect.
He was advised not to return home as the residents were planning to lynch him and he handed him self to Naalya Police post.
