COURT | MURDER | MBALULE

KAMPALA - The Court of Appeal has maintained an 18-year-jail term against Steven Kakondo Ntegereza over murder.

Ntegereza was found guilty of strangling Donizio Mbalule to death. Prosecution says he committed the offence on February 22, 2015 in Kayunga-Maddu village in Gomba district.

During the trial, Ntegereza maintained a plea of not guilty until the court assessors advised the judge to convict him of murder.

But before the judge delivered his judgement, he (Ntegereza) pleaded guilty to the offence of murder.

Subsequently, he was convicted on his plea of guilty and sentenced. He, therefore, appealed against the sentence, saying it was harsh and excessive.

However, justices Catherine Bamugemereire, Christopher Madrama and Eva Luswata, dismissed the appeal against conviction and sentence, for lack of merit.

“Ntegereza was aware that he stood a high chance of being convicted basing on the assessor’s opinion. This appeal stands dismissed under Section 34 of the Criminal Procedure Code Act on grounds that the irregularity in plea taking notwithstanding, no substantial miscarriage of justice occurred,” Bamugemereire ruled.

The court heard that the convict killed Mbalule in a cruel, inhuman, and degrading manner.

At the hearing of the appeal, the appellant was represented by Kenneth Ssebabi on state brief while government was represented by Joseph Kyomuhendo, a Chief State Attorney from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.