Prosecution wants Susan Magara killers condemned to death

   ________________   

The prosecution has asked the court to sentence to death the nine people who were on Monday convicted over the kidnapping and gruesome murder of Susan Magara, the 28-year-old former cashier at Bwendero Dairy Farm in Mengo, Kampala.

High Court judge Alex Mackay Ajiji is expected to sentence the group today, August 5, 2026.

They are Yusuf Lubega, Mahad Kisalita, Ismail Bukenya, Muzamir Ssali, Abubaker Kyewolwa, Hassan Wasswa, Abbas Musa Buvumbo, Hussein Kato Miiro and Hajara Nakandi.

Chief State Attorneys Joseph Kyomuhendo, Sherifah Nalwanga and Irene Nakimbugwe from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) yesterday, Tuesday, asked the judge to sentence them to death, arguing that the manner in which they committed the offences falls within the rarest of the rare cases.

“This is one of the gravest forms of kidnapping and murder that we have met as prosecutors. The offence was premediated and executed with utmost cruelty.

We ask for the death sentence to punish these monsters who are clothed in human bodies, deter organised crime for ransom which is becoming rampant and a threat to human safety, denounce conduct involving prolonged detention after capture, protect the people from these monsters because some of their accomplices are still on the loose and they may reunite and be organised. The sentence will reaffirm public confidence in the justice system,” Kyomuhendo submitted.

Under Sections 172 and 243(1) of the Penal Code Act, death is the maximum punishment for the offences of murder and kidnapping with intent to procure a ransom.

However, in the landmark Supreme Court decision in Attorney General v Susan Kigula and 417 Others, the court held that while the death penalty itself is constitutional, a mandatory death sentence is unconstitutional because it extinguishes the discretion of the judge.

“All crime is ugly, but this is one of the ugliest crimes that we have witnessed in our generation. The deceased was a young, beautiful woman with a whole life ahead of her. She was a highly enterprising woman and a pillar of her family and business. Her precious life was brutally cut short, and she will forever be missed by her loved ones and the country at large because she was a very resourceful person,” Kyomuhendo submitted.

Kyomuhendo submitted that while no punishment or ancillary orders imposed by the court can fully atone for her death, the convicts deserve the death penalty, having planned and committed what he described as two of the most serious offences in the country.

“My lord, we are praying for the death sentence as the only sentence that will deliver justice to her family and the mental anguish which they are going through,” Kyomuhendo submitted.

Citing Article 6 of the International Convention on Human Rights, which allows the death penalty for serious offences, Kyomuhendo invited the court to impose the death penalty on the convicts.

Kyomuhendo submitted that the manner in which the convicts committed the offences falls under Guideline 17 of the Sentencing Guidelines, where the court is enjoined to impose a death sentence, arguing that no custodial sentence is adequate in the circumstances of the case.

“The only sentence that can bring a semblance of justice in this matter is the death sentence. The barbarity exhibited in the commission of this offence is contrary to the norms of the country. We are not defined by such conduct. This court should unequivocally pronounce itself on a retributive sentence for such offenders. Such offenders should not be handled with kid gloves,” Kyomuhendo submitted.

Kyomuhendo said the convicts meticulously planned and executed the offence and thus deserve no mercy.

“The commission of the offences involved high-tech planning; the victim was identified and surveilled after the convicts sat and decided to kidnap her to support their needy Muslim brothers. They procured over 20 SIM cards, which were used to coordinate their illegal scheme, and contacted the relatives of the deceased demanding ransom. After using the SIM cards, they discarded them to avoid being tracked. The points for dropping the ransom were carefully selected. They identified valleys where the convicts could strategically locate themselves,” Kyomuhendo submitted.

“The convicts amputated two of the victim’s fingers, packaged them alongside the video with the victim crying to her father to give them the money. The family complied, left behind security and painfully dropped this money in Ndejje-Kanaba without security. The convicts, whom I will describe as monsters clothed in human bodies, picked the money and were not arrested. All this is meticulous planning,” Kyomuhendo said.

Calling for a death sentence for all the convicts, Kyomuhendo submitted that the offence was committed by the group for a common purpose.

Kyomuhendo said the convicts deserved no mercy because they viewed Magara as a commodity through which money could be extorted and subsequently acquired several properties, including eight vehicles and 35 acres of land in Buikwe District on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Kyomuhendo said Magara died a slow but painful death and, hence, the convicts should also be hanged.

Having targeted a woman and considering the extreme cruelty used in the commission of the offence, which included blindfolding her and chopping off her two fingers before suffocating her to death, Nalwanga submitted that the convicts deserved the death penalty.

Basing her submission on the victim impact statements from John Magara, Flora Magara, Immaculate Magara and the communities of Lubowa and Hoima, Nalwanga submitted that death was the most deserving sentence for the convicts.

Citing the case of Bash Asha Sharif versus Uganda, Nalwanga submitted that while the convicts are relatively young, married and have children to look after, this is not a sufficient ground for the court to shy away from imposing the death penalty, arguing that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors.

Citing the case of Kayondo Fredrick v Uganda and Section 130 of the Trial on Indictments Act, Nakimbugwe asked the court to order the confiscation, forfeiture and sale of the properties, including the land in Buikwe and Luwero districts and the eight vehicles, which she noted were bought using the proceeds of the crime, with the money returned to the Magara family.

In mitigation, defence lawyer Richard Kumbuga, who started his submissions by extending condolences to the Magara family for the loss of their loved one, said all the convicts are first offenders deserving leniency from the court, adding that apart from Wasswa and Kato, the rest are breadwinners for their families.

He submitted that a long custodial sentence or the death penalty would not only affect the convicts but also their children, who may end up on the streets.

Kumbuga opposed the death sentence, saying the country would benefit nothing from it.

“An eye for an eye has never brought peace in society but another form of revenge using the law. I pray that this court invokes the Biblical principles in Genesis chapter four where the first murder happened in the family when Cain killed Abel, but he was warned and later gave birth to Enoch who went to heaven,” he said.

Regarding the confiscation and sale of the property, which the prosecution said was bought using the proceeds of the crime, Kumbuga said recovery cannot come from the grave.

“My lord, it is only the living that can compensate. So, I pray for leniency for the convicts to give them time for reformation,” Kumbuga said.

Kumbuga noted that some of them have gone to school, such as Kyewolwa and Buvumbo, who want to become lawyers and cannot achieve those dreams if executed.

Kumbuga asked the court to consider the level of each convict's participation when handing down sentence.

He noted that Yakub Byensi and Hakim Lugolobi, who are still at large, masterminded the offence. Using the example of Chris Rwakasisi, who was pardoned and became useful to society, Kumbuga prayed for a shorter custodial sentence for the convicts.

Victim impact statements

In their respective victim impact statements tabled before court, Susan's father, John Magara, her mother, Immaculate Magara, and her aunt, Flora Magara, said they have never recovered from the shock and continue to suffer nightmares.

John Magara and Immaculate Magara stated that they still experience flashbacks and continue to suffer anxiety and trauma following the incident.

Court heard that John Magara still finds it difficult to trust those around him and remains heavily stressed, while Immaculate Magara fears that her other children could also be kidnapped.

Asked to address the court, Flora Magara said the family remains in grief and asked the court to sentence the convicts to death.

The kidnapping

Susan Magara, the 28-year-old daughter of businessman John Magara, was kidnapped on February 7, 2018, along Kabaka Anjagala Road in Mengo, a Kampala suburb, as she drove back to her home about three kilometres away.

Her kidnappers then contacted her family and demanded one million US dollars (about sh3.65b) as ransom.

Court heard that her two fingers were chopped off by the ransom seekers, packed in an envelope together with a flash disc showing footage of the mutilation, and sent to her family in a bid to compel them to pay the ransom.

Despite the family delivering $200,000 (about sh700m) to the ransom seekers, Magara was brutally murdered by her captors.

Three weeks later, on February 27, 2018, her body was recovered from Kigo in Wakiso District, where it had been dumped.

The prosecution said the convicts and others still at large kidnapped Magara on February 7, 2018, with intent to procure a ransom for her release.

According to the prosecution, Magara was targeted in a ransom scheme hatched by Yakub Byensi, a former Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) combatant who hailed from Bunyoro, like Susan, and was known to her family.

Armed with that information, the convicts, according to the prosecution, began trailing her until they kidnapped her.

Evidence adduced in court showed that the convicts first kept Magara captive at Nakandi's home in Nateete before transferring her to Bukenya's home in Konge II, Makindye Division, Kampala.

It was there that Buvumbo allegedly chopped off her two fingers, which were sent to her family to demonstrate that the convicts were prepared to kill her if the ransom was not paid.

According to the prosecution, the convicts and their accomplices resolved to kill her because releasing her would expose them.

The prosecution said the convicts used part of the ransom money to acquire several motor vehicles and land in Buikwe and Luwero districts.