Man jailed 40 years for killing wife with acid

Mr Kasiim Kakaire

Kampala- The High Court in Kampala yesterday sentenced a man to 40 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to murdering his wife by pouring acid on her.

Mr Kasiim Kakaire admitted he poured concentrated sulphuric acid on his wife Josephine Namanda who later succumbed to her injuries. He said he did not want to waste court’s time by going into a full trial and opted to plead guilty under the plea bargain procedure.

He had been on remand for four years recoverable from the sentence, implying he will serve 36 years.

Kakaire pleaded to the trial judge Anthony Ojok Ayuko for pardon.
However, the judge observed that Kakaire was the master planner of the acid attack against his wife but added that he would not sentence him to 80 years in jail as had been sought by his daughter Carol Nassiwa.

The judge reasoned that since Kakaire voluntarily pleaded guilty, he deserved some leniency.

“The master planner was none other than Kakaire…. he did not waste much of court’s time…. I am also taking into account that the master planner was also affected by the acid and up to now he is still suffering from that pain. He also should have died but he survived,” the judge observed.

“I will not give him 80 years. This kind of offence must be discouraged at whatever cost. Someone would rather shoot you and you die than leave you in such pain. The convict is 43 years now. If the co-accused were given 25 years, I find the 40 years appropriate, minus the four years on remand leaving the accused to serve 36 years,” Justice Ayuko ruled.

He said he had considered the pain the poor Namanda went through before she died.

Mr Kakaire had hired the two assailants Ivan Namanya and Faluku Walusimbi at Shs3m. Both were sentenced to 25-years in jail.