Dr Mathew Kirabo was on Monday, May 30, 2022, convicted by Mukono High Court Judge Henry Kaweesa who found him guilty of the 2015 murder of his girlfriend.

Justice Kawesa noted that Kirabo’s sentence will be made after he is arrested.

In his ruling, Justice Kaweesa relied on the advice from court assessors who said in their report, that all the evidence in place showed that the accused had masterminded the murder of Desire Mirembe.

Kirabo’s conviction comes almost two months after Court Assessors in Mukono High Court on March 29, 2022, advised the Judge to find him guilty of killing Mirembe in 2015.

One of the Assessors, Robert Sseguya told the court that all the evidence in place showed that the accused masterminded the murder and prayed that he should be found guilty.

Mirembe's relatives led by his father Emmanuel Musoke said they were excited by the ruling and that justice had finally been served. 

However, they shared their disappointments with security which failed to arrest Kirabo who absconded court after being pinned by several witnesses.

Mirembe, a student at Makerere University medical school went missing in July 2015 shortly after he left her hostel to go and meet her boyfriend Kirabo. 

Her body was later recovered in a sugarcane plantation in Jinja on July 7, 2015.

Detectives would later arrest Kirabo who confessed to the murder and took them to the scene of the crime and reconstructed the murder scene and indicated how he had strangled her and also slit her throat using a surgical blade.

Kirabo was charged at the Jinja Magistrates Court with murder before and was remanded but was later granted bail on November 24, 2016.

The case moved to Mukono High Court which had jurisdiction over it (the case) after the State in Jinja complained that they didn’t have the locus to continue prosecuting it.

In May 2021, there was an uproar after the suspect Kirabo applied to court to get back his passport so that he could fly to the US for further studies. 

Following the intervention of the former State House Anti-Corruption Unit head, Col. Edith Nakalema, the family met the Principal Judge Justice, Dr. Flavian Zeija, who promised to ensure the matter was heard within the shortest time possible.

The trial resumed but in October, Kirabo skipped court and his lawyers informed the Judge that he was sick, however, photos would later emerge of Kirabo being introduced by his new girlfriend, a US citizen. 

A medical personnel who also forged lab results which indicated that Kirabo was sick having been infected with Covid-19 from Jinja was arrested and remanded.

On November 3, 2021, Judge Kaweesa issued an arrest warrant for Kirabo and asked police to present him in court “as soon as possible.”

Kirabo failed to turn up prompting the Judge to order his sureties to produce him or pay the fine.  

On November 17, 2021, the sureties Imelda Wabulembo, Benard Mbayo and Elizabeth Baleke told the court that they did not know the whereabouts of Kirabo.

Justice Kaweesa said that the sureties were given adequate time to produce the suspect in court. 

He ordered that each of the sureties pay sh50m or face jail or be arrested for aiding the escape of a suspect. They later paid the sh150m amount.

Kirabo is reported to have fled the country in November last year. His arrest warrant, however, still stands.