A POLICE officer in Kasese district has been sentenced to death for murder. Court found Pascal Kakuru guilty of shooting dead Mubarak Byekwaso in May 2005.
The High Court in Kasese, presided over Justice Rugadya Atwooki, last week heard that on the fateful day, Kakuru attempted to enter Club Atlas in the town but was asked to pay a fee of sh2,000 which he refused.
Kakuru reportedly left the club only to return a few minutes on a boda-boda motorcycle with a gun which he used to Byekwaso four times. Byekwaso, an employee of the club, was rushed to Kilembe Hospital but he died on arrival.
Kakuru was later arrested near the UPDF officers’ mess in the town. Justice Atwooki said the evidence against the accused was sufficient to show that he was guilty of murder.
He added that the sentence would serve as a lesson to other armed security people not to take the law into their hands and not to misuse the firearms given to them by virtue of their work.
The same court also sentenced three men to varying periods in jail for defilement. Sadik Kanyamaseke got 18 years for defiling an eight-year-old girl. Hosea Baluku, 50, is to serve 12 years in jail for defiling a 12-year-old girl in September 2004 while Julius Asiimwe who violated a seven-year-old girl was also given 18 years in prison.
Court heard that the victim was a friend of Asiimwe’s daughter and she contracted a sexually transmitted disease from him.
Statistics from the Kasese police probation office show that from January to September, 2007, 200 girls were raped and defiled.
Policeman gets death for murder
