Don’t be conned by Uwera’s cheap lies, State tells judge
What you need to know:
Murder? Closing its submissions, the prosecution insisted Ms Uwera deliberately knocked her husband dead.
Kampala.
The State yesterday closed its case in the trial of Ms Jacqueline Uwera Nsenga, who is accused of murdering her husband, and asked the High Court to convict her.
Uwera is on trial on charges of murdering her husband Juvenal Nsenga by running over him with a car at their residence in Bugolobi, Kampala, in January 2013.
The prosecution alleges that Ms Uwera killed her husband intentionally, a charge she denies and insists the killing was accidental.
Closing its submissions in court yesterday, the prosecution insisted Ms Uwera deliberately knocked her husband dead. Principal State Attorney Susan Okalany asked the judge to treat Ms Uwera’s claim that the incident was an accident as “mere cheap lies and defence prepared in advance”.
Next Wednesday, the defence will make its last rejoinder to the prosecution’s submissions and thereafter the case will await judgment.
the state’s submission
In a one and half hour submission, the state argued that it successfully proved there was malice aforethought in Ms Uwera’s actions. Witnesses from the family told court earlier that Mr Nsenga kept saying on his death bed: “My wife has killed me in my own compound. It was my first time to open for her.”
Principal State Attorney Susan Okalany argued that the couple, married for 18 years with two children, was in a sour relationship and the deceased had complained to his elder brother in-law about his wife’s unbecoming behaviour, a week before his death.
Ms Okalany also asked Justice Duncan Gaswaga to consider the evidence of Makerere University’s Prof Jackson Mwakali, who led a team of expert engineers that investigated the gate and scene of the car crash, which ruled out any possibility of an accident.
“Prof Mwakali’s investigation revealed that Jackie would have to be driving at a speed of 41-61km per hour in order to knock the late and the car skids for 17 metres. Surely, she intended to kill by driving at this speed in her compound,” Ms Okalany said. She added that the car, from the Inspector of Vehicles’ findings, was in perfect mechanical condition and was fitted with an auto braking system and obstacle sensors so it could not have jerked and accelerated on its own.
“In fact, Prof Mwakali testified that unintended acceleration was never reported anywhere in the world in this particular model of cars. Jackie’s car would be making history,” she said.
“We invite you not to be conned to believe these cheap lies because she even claims she doesn’t know what happened after the car jerked,” Ms Okalany submitted.
She said the defence team’s plea to the judge to dismiss the evidence of the in-laws on account that they were only ‘clamouring for property’ was hollow because it was the state prosecuting Ms Uwera and not the in-laws.