Kaliro fisherman gets 40 years for killing his two brothers

IGANGA - The High Court in Iganga has sentenced a fisherman in Kaliro district to 40 years in jail for killing his two brothers while fishing. 

Justice David Batema, the Kaliro resident judge, found Robert Mutebe guilty of murdering Sulait Kudeba and Bosco Saabi, noting that evidence adduced by Godfrey Mwigazi, Mutebe’s employer, implicated the accused. 

“Mwigazi supplied a boat, nets and an oar to his three employees and saw them off as they went fishing on the lake. When he received a call that the accused was returning alone in the boat, he rushed to the landing site to receive him as he rowed the boat alone, dry and not wet. I do not believe claims that the accused was attacked by pirates on the lake,” the judge noted. 

Justice Batema said there was no sign that the accused was harmed despite claiming to have swum to the landing site that was safe. 

The judge said Mutebe’s employer, who received him as a lone survivor, indicates that the accused was well dressed in dry clothes in the boat with the actual oar he uses while on the job. 

“For a person struggling to save his life by swimming, he could not have had the time to save his oar and the boat. It is believable that he assaulted his brothers to death in the waters where they had gone fishing. His defence that he swam to safety after being attacked by pirates is not credible at all,” the judge said. 

To crown it all, Batema said Mutebe’s charge and caution statement where he confessed to having caused the death of his brothers was tendered in court with no objection, and it was not retracted. 

“If he had retracted it at the tendering stage, this court would have held a trial within a trial to find out whether it was voluntarily made. I have no doubt it was voluntarily made and his denial of having confessed was a second thought,” the judge said. 

Batema noted that it appeared that the accused wanted to convince the court that he did not know how to sign and did not sign the confession. 

However, when asked about whether he signed or thumb-printed on his national identification card, he said his friend had signed for him. 

The court later discovered that his national identification card read that he was unable to sign. 

“The only conclusion that can be made out of this denial and drama in signatures between counsel and his client is that the accused wanted to deny his signature but was not sure whether he used it on the national identification card or not,” the judge said. 

He disagreed with the assessors’ opinion to have Mutebe acquitted. On both counts, Mutebe was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment, minus the remand period of seven years and three months. 

Mutebe will now serve the remaining 32 years and nine months. 

In his defence, Mutebe maintained his plea of not guilty. 

“When they went fishing, they were attacked by unknown people who assaulted them. I plunged into the lake waters and swam to the landing site,” he told the court. 

Each of the deceased is said to have succumbed to death due to multiple injuries, drowning later. The prosecution proved that the death was unlawful and with malice aforethought, Batema said.

Background (Doctors find evidence of scuffle)

The prosecution heard that on June 14, 2017, at Butambara landing site in Kaliro district, the accused with malice aforethought murdered Kudeba and Saabi. 

According to post-mortem reports, doctors saw deep wounds on Saabi’s cheeks and marks of violence as well as scratches. 

Kudeba’s body, on the other hand, had a swollen head with scratch marks on the head and around the neck.