The Court of Appeal has reduced the 40-year jail sentence by half for a man convicted of murder in the Kasese attack.

Justices Fredrick Egonda Ntende, Catherine Bamugemereire, and Monica Mugenyi unanimously on March 5, 2024, reduced Mustafa Ngongo's sentence to 19 years in jail.

However, the Justices acquitted Ngongo's co-accused, Hamis Walisa, of the murder charges.

On July 5, 2014, at Bigando village, Kitsamba sub-county, in Kasese district, the prosecution stated that a group of Bakonzo, including Ngongo, invaded Basongora residing in the area. They hacked several of them to death, locked others in a thatched grass house and set it ablaze.

According to the prosecution, those murdered in the attack were Grace Nabimanya and her children Joseline Tarindeka, Rosette Karikunda, Enid Nabagye and Pofia Karungi. It is alleged that the attack was attributed to the dispute between the Bakonzo and the Basongora over the resettlement of the Basongora at Nsinungi in Bigando village, Kitswamba sub-county, Kasese district.

On July 10, 2019, the appellants Ngongo and Walisa were convicted of seven counts of murder, contrary to sections 188 and 189 of the Penal Code Act, and sentenced to 40 years. However, they appealed against the sentence on the grounds that the trial judge erred in law by convicting them without properly evaluating the evidence regarding their defence of alibi, thereby arriving at an erroneous conclusion.

They further argued that the trial judge ignored inconsistencies and contradictions in the prosecution's evidence.

The justices noted that the trial judge was correct in convicting Ngongo of murder.

“We find that the first appellant was properly convicted for the offences of murder and arson. It is our finding that witnesses number three and six did place the first appellant at the scene of crimes. The second appellant’s conviction of murder and arson is hereby quashed, his sentence is set aside and he is accordingly discharged forthwith unless held on other lawful charges, the justices said.