Having successfully slipped from Police detention twice, Benedicto Baryaija, a resident of Katongore in Ibanda south county, Ibanda district can best be described as a daredevil.

However, he will now have to pay for his unrestrained spirit after the Ibanda chief magistrate’s court handed him a five-year jail term at Nyabuhikye Prison.

Baryaija, who was initially detained at Katongore Police Station, drilled a hole in the cell wall and escaped, the court heard.

However, his luck was short-lived as he was nabbed again and transferred to Ibanda Central Police Station, here he was charged with escape from lawful detention and malicious damage to property.

He again sneaked away from his minders on November 20, 2022, after he was taken out to reportedly wash a Police vehicle.

A search was mounted by Police and Baryaija, a man of small build and medium height, was rearrested hours later from his mother’s home in Kafunjo, Katongore village, prosecutor Ali Ssemakula told the court.

However, this conduct only served to complicate his already bad situation.

He was slapped with another charge of escape from lawful detention which attracts five years behind bars. 

The daring suspect had initially been arrested on a case of threatening violence, harassment and threatening to harm his wife, Generous Kadesemba. 
 
With the evidence against him, Baryaija pleaded guilty to all the crimes while appearing before the Ibanda chief magistrate Aloysius Natwijuka. He was accordingly convicted and sentenced by the court on November 24, 2022.

Natwijuka handed the convict, who prosecution said was habitually threatening and harassing his wife, a two-year jail term on the charge of threatening violence.

He will serve another two years for the two counts of escaping from lawful detention while he got one year in prison for malicious damage to government property.

After reading the sentence, the chief magistrate cautioned the prison’s authorities to be watchful lest the convict escapes from jail before serving his sentence.