Army court sends policeman to hang for murder

Canan Nkamuhabwa (circled) together with his co-convicts. Canan Nkamuhabwa attached to the Counter-Terrorism Unit was convicted for murdering a civilian. Courtesy photo

What you need to know:

  • Lt. Col Emeru agreed with the prosecution and found the trio guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and abetting crime.
  • The deceased’s relatives have also welcomed the ruling , saying court delivered justice.

SEMBABULE. A military court in Sembabule district has sentenced a police officer to death for killing a civilian.

Canan Nkamuhabwa, attached to the Counter-Terrorism Unit, shot Paul Tumukunde , 31, a son to Mr Fred Karakure, the chairperson of Lugusulu Sub -County following a quarrel at a bar on Thursday. Nkamuhabwa’s co-accused Pte Abel Katsigazi and Cpl Johnson Abasa were each sentenced to 40 years in jail for conspiracy and 15 years for abetting crime respectively.

The Court Martial of the army's Second Division chaired by Lt. Col. Moses Emeru on Saturday sat at Sembabule District headquarters and tried the accused. Six witnesses testified.
One of the witnesses Timothy Kiwewa, a healthy worker at Sembabule Hospital, who carried out the postmortem on Tumukunde’s body told the military court that the deceased was shot twice on the left side of the heart which made him bleed to death.
A police officer from Sembabule Police Station told court that they recovered two cartridges from the scene of crime and found Nkamuhabwa’s gun with only 28 bullets instead of 30 which indicates it had discharged two in the shooting.

The state represented Lt. Hassan Mulyante asked court to find the accused guilty and give them a maximum punishment.
In his defence, Nkamuhabwa said someone had instructed him to arrest Tumukunde but he attempted to fight and in the scuffle he shot him accidentally.
Abasa testified that he witnessed the scuffle prior to the shooting and had advised the quarrelling duo to go to police to settle their grievances.
Lt. Col Emeru agreed with the prosecution and found the trio guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and abetting crime.

He said the officers acted unprofessionally to kill a civilian who was not armed.
He ordered the convicts to be transferred to Luzira Prison to serve their punishments.

A section of residents who attended the court session were happy with the court ruling, saying the punishments given to the officers could deter others from misusing guns.

The deceased’s relatives have also welcomed the ruling , saying court delivered justice. The Sembabule incident comes days after the Police leadership announced plans to sack incompetent, corrupt and lazy officers. After the killing of former police spokesperson, Andrew Felix Kaweesi in March, an infuriated President Museveni directed the police chief Gen. Kale Kayihura to “clean up his house”, saying the force was harbouring criminals within its ranks.