Murder convict sentenced to 10 years in jail under plea bargain

A 41-year-old man has been sentenced to serve 10 years in jail after pleading guilty to murder charges under plea bargain Court system.
Steven Molo, a resident of Konakilak cell, Lwanda village in Nakaseke District on Wednesday told the High Court in Luweero District that he was aware of a murder case where he caused the death of John Kalato, a resident of the same village on May 8, 2015. This was after Justice Vincent Tonny Okwongo read to him a plea bargain agreement he had earlier signed in exchange for a lighter sentence.

“The plea bargain agreement you signed pleading guilty to the charge of murder was out of your own free will and voluntary. You offered to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. I take it that your lawyer explained to you the consequences of surrendering your rights under a plea bargain agreement. You are convicted at own guilty plea and sentenced to serve a 10 years in prison,” Justice Okwongo said.
The plea bargain judicial system was launched in the greater Luweero in 2017 by the Principal Judge Yorokam Bamwine at Nakasongola Government Prisons located in Nakasongola District. Bamwine clarified that plea bargain only benefits individuals who have not been coerced to accept a particular charge but should be out of own conviction.

The Judiciary in 2014 introduced the plea bargain judicial system as one way of decongesting the prisons in Uganda. Under the plea bargain system, the law allows the suspct and the prosecution in consultation with the victims to reach an agreement on an appropriate sentence in line with the charge brought against the accused once he pleads guilty.