Lira High Court sentences man to 40 years for Dr Olila murder

________________

The High Court in Lira has sentenced Paul Mugerwa to 40 years in prison for the murder and aggravated robbery of renowned Lira medic Dr Wilfred Olila, following his own plea of guilt.

In a judgment delivered on April 13, 2026, Lira High Court resident judge Sarah Birungi Kalibbala handed Mugerwa 40 years’ imprisonment for murder and 20 years for aggravated robbery, with the sentences to run concurrently.

After deducting the one year and 23 days he spent on remand, Mugerwa will serve 38 years, 11 months and seven days for murder and 18 years, 11 months and seven days for aggravated robbery.



The sentence brings closure to a case that sent shockwaves across the Lango sub-region, where Dr Olila was widely respected as a retired medical doctor, a specialist in ear, nose and throat care, and proprietor of New Moroto Nursing Home in Lira city.

Justice Kalibbala ruled that the gravity of the offence outweighed the mitigating factors presented by the convict.

“I find that the aggravating factors in this case outweigh the mitigating factors,” she ruled, adding that a custodial sentence was necessary given the disturbing nature of the crime.

Court heard that Mugerwa, then linked to a health insurance company in Mbale, orchestrated the kidnapping of Dr Olila from Lira Hotel in January 2025. The doctor was later killed and his body dumped in Kalaki district.

According to the prosecution, Mugerwa and his accomplices had initially planned to rob a Chinese national in Mbale before shifting their target to Dr Olila, whom they believed to be financially stable. The group allegedly tracked his movements and lured him to Lira Hotel under the pretext that officials from Jubilee Insurance wanted to discuss medical cover services for his facility.

Having left his vehicle elsewhere, Dr Olila reportedly arrived at the hotel on a boda boda, where the suspects allegedly forced him into a waiting vehicle. Investigators said the plan was to compel him to transfer money electronically, but he died during the ordeal, prompting the suspects to dispose of his body in Kalaki.

His lifeless body was discovered on January 17, 2025, on Otuboi–Abalanga Road in Ogolai village, Kalaki. A post-mortem examination later confirmed that Olila died from strangulation.

The prosecution was led by Jonathan Okello, the chief state attorney and regional officer in Lira.

The case, registered as CRB 45/2025 at Lira City Central Police Station and A74/2025 before the Lira Magistrates’ Court, initially involved several suspects. Upon committal to the High Court, some were released, leaving Joel George Okello, Paul Mugerwa, Athanasius Kawuki and Alex Itonge to face charges ranging from murder and aggravated robbery to being accessories after the fact.

The trial of the co-accused, who pleaded not guilty to all counts, continues in the same court.

Mugerwa had earlier attempted a plea bargain, proposing a 20-year sentence, but the prosecution rejected it and pushed for a far stiffer punishment.

Who was Dr Olila?

Dr Olila was one of northern Uganda’s most respected medical professionals. He graduated from Makerere University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and later earned a Master of Medicine in Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in 2008.

He served at Lira, Soroti and Kabale regional referral hospitals before retiring in 2015 at the age of 60. Beyond public service, he was a lecturer at Soroti University and the founder of private medical initiatives that expanded specialist care in the region.

He is survived by his widow and six children.

His violent death left a deep scar on the medical fraternity and the wider Lango community, where he was remembered as a mentor, healer and compassionate leader.