Supreme Court upholds Kasiwukira murder conviction
The five-member panel, comprising Justices Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza, Percy Night Tuhaise, Mike Chibita, Stephen Musota and Monica Mugenyi, dismissed the appellants’ second appeal on September 17, 2026.
Supreme Court upholds Kasiwukira murder conviction
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The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and 20-year prison sentences imposed on PC Jaden Ashraf and Sandra Nakungu for the murder of businessman Eriya Bugembe Ssebunya, alias Kasiwukira.
The five-member panel, comprising Justices Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza, Percy Night Tuhaise, Mike Chibita, Stephen Musota and Monica Mugenyi, dismissed the appellants’ second appeal on September 17, 2026.
Kasiwukira was killed on October 17, 2014, after he was knocked down by a speeding motor vehicle while jogging near his home in the Muyenga Diplomatic Zone, Kampala.
According to prosecution, Kasiwukira was on his routine morning jog at about 6:00am when the vehicle hit him and sped away.
A post-mortem examination indicated that he died from multiple crash injuries. Kasiwukira was a businessman and a member of the Kwagalana group.
His death prompted a police investigation which later led to the arrest and prosecution of his widow, Sarah Nabikolo Ssebunya, her cousin Sandra Nakungu and Police Constable Jaden Ashraf, who was attached to Muyenga Community Police Station.
The three were subsequently charged with murder before the High Court. They denied the charge.
The prosecution alleged that the killing had been planned and that the accused persons had played different roles in the plan.
During the trial, the prosecution led evidence that there had been an earlier attempt to waylay Kasiwukira near his home.
The High Court judgment records evidence from prosecution witness Geoffrey Awuyo that Jaden, through Alex Adwenya, had approached him to kill a wealthy man living in Muyenga.
The court also heard evidence that an attempt was made to waylay Kasiwukira near his home, but the plan did not succeed. Another prosecution witness, Richard Byamukama, was relied upon by the State in linking Jaden to the alleged plan.
The prosecution also relied on evidence concerning the vehicle allegedly used in the fatal attack. During the trial, witnesses testified about the vehicle and its movements around the time of Kasiwukira’s death.
New Vision reported that more than 17 witnesses had testified by the time the trial was nearing completion, with several of them being police officers involved in the investigation.
In October 2016, High Court Judge Wilson Masalu Musene acquitted Nabikolo of murder but convicted Nakungu and Jaden.
The judge found that the prosecution had proved the case against Nakungu and Jaden but had not sufficiently established Nabikolo’s participation in the murder.
The High Court judgment states that the prosecution evidence on Nabikolo’s participation was insufficient to prove the fourth ingredient of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
New Vision reported that Nakungu and Jaden were each sentenced to 20 years in prison for their role in the murder.
The Court of Appeal subsequently upheld the convictions and sentences of Nakungu and Jaden. Nabikolo’s acquittal was also challenged by the State.
The matter later reached the Supreme Court after Nakungu and Jaden filed a second appeal. Among the issues raised were the sufficiency of the evidence, the reliance on circumstantial evidence and the effect of Nabikolo’s acquittal on their convictions.
The appellants argued that their convictions could not stand because the person alleged to have been involved in planning the murder had been acquitted. They also challenged the evidence relied upon by the lower courts.
However, the Supreme Court found that there was sufficient evidence linking Nakungu and Jaden to the murder.
The court considered evidence relating to the planning of the offence, the appellants’ presence at the scene and their use of the motor vehicle involved in knocking Kasiwukira.
The justices held that the evidence against the appellants formed a consistent chain pointing to their participation in the murder and proved their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
On the acquittal of Nabikolo, the Supreme Court held that the acquittal of one accused person does not automatically result in the acquittal of co-accused persons where there is independent evidence against them.
The court found that the prosecution had proved the criminal liability of Nakungu and Jaden independently of the case against the acquitted co-accused.
The Supreme Court consequently dismissed the appeal and upheld the murder convictions and the 20-year prison sentences imposed by the High Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal.