Police officer jailed 17 years for knocking colleague dead

A driver has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for killing a traffic Police officer.

Sgt. Solomon Nkojo, attached to the Uganda Police Force, knocked dead Sgt. Judith Adong, as he transported students who had completed a crime preventers’ training in Kabalye Police Training School from Masindi to Kampala.

At Katuugo Trading Centre, along the Kampala -Gulu highway in Nakasongola district, Nkojo also knocked Cpl. Patrick Omach, who lost normal mobility and moves on crutches.

As a result, Adong died on the spot, while Omach sustained serious body injuries and was rushed to the hospital unconscious.

On the same day, the same vehicle knocked down and damaged beyond repair two Police motorcycles that were parked at the scene.

In a judgment delivered on August 6, 2025, Supreme Court justices, led by Percy Night Tuhaise, upheld the conviction of murder and attempted murder imposed on Nkojo by the Court of Appeal.

Other justices on the panel are Elizabeth Musoke, Stephen Musota, Catherine Bamugemereire, and Monica Mugenyi.

The justices directed that Nkojo serve a prison sentence of 17 years and two months for offence of murder and 11 years and two months for attempted murder.

They ordered that the sentences will run concurrently, from January 16, 2018, the date of conviction by the High Court.

"The offences which the accused was convicted of are grave and committed in a barbaric, crude, cruel, and uncivilised manner,” Tuhaise said.

The justices observed that the victims of the offence were Police officers on duty and that Adong left young children and her mother, while Omach lost normal mobility and moved on crutches.

The incident

Following the incident, Nkojo reported himself to the Katuugo Police post and was later detained. He was indicted with the offence of murder contrary to sections 188 and 189 of the Penal Code Act (now sections 171 and l72).

He was also charged with attempted murder contrary to section 204 (a) of the Penal Code Act (now section 187). He pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Following the trial, he was convicted of both murder and attempted murder by Wilson Masalu Musene (now deceased).

The evidence at trial showed that the Appellant had previously been in a love relationship with Adong (deceased), which went sour, and that on that fateful day, when he was driving through Katuugo, he slowed down the vehicle as he approached the traffic Police officers on duty, but then suddenly accelerated it and knocked them down.

He dragged them for a distance of about 13 metres ahead.

He was sentenced by the High Court to 18 years' imprisonment for murder and 12 years’ imprisonment for attempted murder, a sentence which was upheld by the Court of Appeal.