Mukono murder convict loses bid to overturn 30-year jail term

_________________

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a man convicted of murdering his village-mate in Mukono district.

The appellant, Isaac Kibenge, was convicted of murder after the court found that on June 14, 2016, at Lubembe fishing village in Mukono district, he unlawfully caused the death of Wambi Samuel.

Kibenge appealed against his conviction and sentence, arguing that the punishment was excessive and harsh. However, on September 30, 2025, Justices Oscar John Kihika, John Mike Musisi, and Cornelia Kakooza Sabiti dismissed the appeal, stating that a 30-year sentence was not excessive given the gravity of the offence of murder.

“In this case, the sentence of thirty years cannot be said to fall outside the acceptable range, nor has it been demonstrated that the learned trial judge misdirected herself in principle or ignored a material consideration. The punishment imposed was neither illegal nor manifestly excessive given the seriousness of the offence.

We therefore find no basis upon which to interfere with the sentence imposed by the trial judge. The sentence of thirty years’ imprisonment imposed by the trial court, which, after deducting the four years and eight months spent on remand, resulted in twenty-five years and four months, is upheld. This appeal is accordingly dismissed,” Justice Kihika said.

Background

Court records show that the prosecution’s case was that the deceased, Sam Wambi, was last seen alive on the morning of June 15, 2016, in the company of the accused, Isaac Kibenge. Evidence presented in court indicated that on the previous day, June 14, 2016, Kibenge’s motorcycle (registration number UEH 107E) had been impounded by a debt collector, but later released after he pleaded that he had a customer that evening and would clear his arrears the following day.

That same night, around 10:00 p.m., a witness, Silas Lubega, testified that he saw the accused together with the deceased. Another witness, Robinah Nakiyingi, also confirmed seeing the two men together later that evening.

Court heard that the following morning, between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 am, Lubega again saw the deceased—this time lying helplessly in Lubembe, about 4–5 kilometers from the landing site. Wambi was bleeding heavily from multiple head wounds and, before dying, named Kibenge as the man who had attacked him, stolen his sh3 million, and taken his phone.

With the help of residents, Lubega rushed Wambi to a nearby Health Centre III, but he succumbed to his injuries five hours later. A postmortem examination conducted the next day at Kawolo Hospital revealed that he had died of an open head injury, with deep scalp cuts that exposed the skull and brain tissue.

Kibeng’s defence

In his defence, Kibenge denied the charge and claimed he had not been in Kamuli on the day of the murder. However, after weighing the prosecution’s evidence against his alibi, the trial judge convicted him of murder and sentenced him to 25 years and four months in prison, after deducting time already spent on remand. He contends that the trial judge erred by passing excessive sentence.