Man jailed 30 years for hiring stranger to kill brother
The judge ruled that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the convicts caused the death of Kabonero with malice aforethought by repeatedly hitting his head, a delicate and vital part of the body, using a blunt object.
Muwanguzi and Kobusingye before High Court in Masaka. (Credit: Dismua Buregyeya)
MASAKA - After more than five years of waiting for justice, a Masaka High Court judge has sentenced a man who hired a stranger to kill his brother, Amon Kabonero to 30 years in prison.
In a judgement delivered on August 27, Justice Fatuma Bwanika Nanziri convicted and sentenced Enock Rwobusingye, the brother of the deceased and stranger Boaz Muhanguzi to 30 years in prison each, for their role in the murder of cattle farmer Kabonero.
“I find that the prosecution has proved all the essential ingredients of the offence of murder beyond reasonable doubt against Muhanguzi and Rwobusingye,” she ruled.
Lured and strangled
The convicts committed the offence on January 12, 2021, at Rwetanga village in Lyantonde district.
Court documents show that the late Kabonero was lured from his home by Muhanguzi, who posed as a cattle buyer and taken to a remote part of his farm, where he was brutally attacked.
The prosecution said the assailants struck him on the head with a blunt object and strangled him. Kabonero succumbed to the injuries on January 22, 2021.
“The repeated blows to a vital part of the body were indicative of malice aforethought,” Justice Nanziri noted.
Participation
According to the judge, Muhanguzi, posing as a cattle buyer, escorted Kabonero with the motorcycle rider towards the kraal. Within 40 minutes, an alarm was raised, and the deceased was found wounded.
The judge dismissed Muhanguzi’s claim that he was in Buyaga town all day at Queens Gardens Bar and Lodge on the day of the murder, ruling that the alibi was destroyed by the prosecution evidence after three prosecution witnesses placed him at the deceased’s home on January 12, 2021.
The judge also stated that prosecution witness Ronald Olee testified that on January 12, 2021, mobile phone cell tower data placed Muhanguzi in the area of Nakaseta Lyantonde district.
Muhanguzi’s phone also shared photographs of animals at a farm in the area between 2:16pm and 2:36pm and a text SMS: “I can’t talk now,” with Rwobusingye.
Circumstantial evidence
In regard to convict Rwobusingye, the judge stated that although he was not physically present at the scene, the law stipulates that a person may be liable for such an act if he shared a common intention with the actual perpetrators.
According to the judge, Rwobusingye was a brother to the deceased, and they had a 10-year land dispute emanating from their late father’s estate. Court documents indicate that Rwobusingye had threatened to kill his brother for many years.
This, according to the judge, pointed Rwobusingye’s involvement in the crime.
Subsequently, the judge said the evidence against Muhanguzi pointed irresistibly to his participation in a common plan to fatally wound the deceased, leading to his death. “The two convicts formed a common intention to fatally wound the deceased,” she ruled.
Family comments
The daughter of the deceased, Debra Tumukunde, a Vision Group employee, said the verdict brings a measure of justice to the family, which has endured years of grief and uncertainty following the brutal killing of their father.