Court upholds 25-year sentence for woman convicted of murdering boyfriend
Court records show that on August 25, 2020, at Kiwatule Central Zone in Kampala district, the appellant unlawfully killed her boyfriend, Masembe Ian, with malice aforethought. The court heard that she had visited the deceased on the day of the incident.
While delivering the judgment on May 18, 2026, the judges stated that Esther Ajupo’s grounds of appeal, in which she argued that the trial judge erred in law and arrived at an unjust conclusion, had no merit.
KAMPALA - The Court of Appeal has upheld a 25-year and seven-month prison sentence imposed on a woman convicted of murdering her boyfriend.
Justices of Appeal Hellen Obura, Esta Nambayo, and Margaret Tibulya stated that the conviction for murder was properly grounded in evidence and confirmed that the trial court reached the correct decision in the case.
While delivering the judgment on May 18, 2026, the judges stated that Esther Ajupo’s grounds of appeal, in which she argued that the trial judge erred in law and arrived at an unjust conclusion, had no merit.
Court records show that on August 25, 2020, at Kiwatule Central Zone in Kampala district, the appellant unlawfully killed her boyfriend, Masembe Ian, with malice aforethought. The court heard that she had visited the deceased on the day of the incident.
Justices relied on witnesses told court that they heard groaning sounds from the house of the deceased Ian Masembe. entered the house, where they found Ajupo outside making a phone call. The deceased was later discovered in the bathroom, lying in a pool of blood with about 10 stab wounds.
A postmortem report confirmed that the cause of death was haemorrhagic shock due to severe blood loss.
The appellant was arrested, charged with murder, and later convicted before being sentenced to 25 years and 7 months in prison, a sentence now upheld by the Court of Appeal.
In her appeal, Ajupo argued that there was no DNA or fingerprint evidence directly linking her to the murder. She further contended that the deceased’s body did not bear any defensive injuries, which, according to her, showed that there had been no struggle between them.
The appellant also argued that the stab wounds were inflicted from the front, suggesting that the deceased could have taken his own life.
“Since the judge considered all the mitigating factors that were brought to his attention. We find no reason to interfere with the sentence. There is no material factor that was overlooked by the judge We find no merit in the appeal as well, and we dismiss it. In the result, the appeal fails on all grounds,” the judges said.