Ugandan death row inmate freed

Nov 15, 2016

Pte Philip Igama had spent 15 years behind bars.

KAMPALA - A death row inmate walked free after the General Court Martial decided that the prosecution had not proved the charge against him of killing a fellow soldier.

Pte Philip Igama, a UPDF officer who has been awaiting execution at Luzira Maximum Prison, is now a free man.

He had spent 15 years behind bars.

In 2001, the fourth division court martial convicted the army man and sentenced him to death over the murder of Pte. George Abulejo at Aliwara army detach in Adjumani district.

But his fate has since turned around.

In passing his verdict, Lt Gen Andrew Gutti, who presided over the court, faulted the division court for convicting Igama basing on evidence of only one witness, Pte. Moses Ereku, who was not at the scene of crime by the time the said incident happened.

"The witness heard the bullet shots from a distance and yet the law points out that there must be circumstantial evidence before convicting a person," he said.

According to Gutti, circumstantial evidence on record never places the killer weapon in the hands of Igama on the day the offence was committed or at the scene of crime.

"There were many drunkard soldiers at the scene of crime but why was Igama the only one who was suspected to have caused the death of Ereku?" asked Gutti, before acquitting the soldier.

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