Man gets life in prison for robbery
Dec 08, 2010
A highway robber has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Asuman Bella and others still on the run mounted an illegal road block at Busitema, along Bugiri-Tororo-Malaba highway, when security operatives rounded him up.
By Moses Nampala
A highway robber has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Asuman Bella and others still on the run mounted an illegal road block at Busitema, along Bugiri-Tororo-Malaba highway, when security operatives rounded him up.
While presiding over the case recently, Justice Stephen Musota said prosecution had produced enough evidence to convict Bella.
“The evidence implicates the accused as a person who has been unleashing terror on innocent travellers and I find him guilty of charges of aggravated robbery,†Musota noted.
During the trial, Tororo resident State Attorney Bwiiso Bogere, tendered in an AK47 rifle that was found with the accused on the night of February 15, 2006, when he was arrested in Busitema after they robbed passangers aboard a pick-up truck.
The other evidence against the convict included a magazine containing 29 bullets, an army uniform and cap.
One of the witnesses, James Ochieng, a Tororo-based businessman, told court that he was among the passangers travelling in a pickup truck on the fateful night.
Ochieng said he had sh1m, and was traveling from Tororo to Jinja to purchase some items.
He told court that when they reached Busitema, the driver stopped the vehicle suddenly after one of the armed thugs signaled him to stop.
“As soon as the driver stopped, the thugs started beating up everybody on board using whips and gun butts,†Ochieng said.
He said the thugs later ordered them to surrender all valuables to them.
However, in the ensuing confusion, security personnel that had been tipped off about the robbery, confronted the thugs and had a fierce exchange of gunfire ensued.
The other thugs escapes into the forest but, Bella was netted.
He was disarmed and taken to Tororo Central Police station. Bella, however, denied committing the offence.
A highway robber has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Asuman Bella and others still on the run mounted an illegal road block at Busitema, along Bugiri-Tororo-Malaba highway, when security operatives rounded him up.
While presiding over the case recently, Justice Stephen Musota said prosecution had produced enough evidence to convict Bella.
“The evidence implicates the accused as a person who has been unleashing terror on innocent travellers and I find him guilty of charges of aggravated robbery,†Musota noted.
During the trial, Tororo resident State Attorney Bwiiso Bogere, tendered in an AK47 rifle that was found with the accused on the night of February 15, 2006, when he was arrested in Busitema after they robbed passangers aboard a pick-up truck.
The other evidence against the convict included a magazine containing 29 bullets, an army uniform and cap.
One of the witnesses, James Ochieng, a Tororo-based businessman, told court that he was among the passangers travelling in a pickup truck on the fateful night.
Ochieng said he had sh1m, and was traveling from Tororo to Jinja to purchase some items.
He told court that when they reached Busitema, the driver stopped the vehicle suddenly after one of the armed thugs signaled him to stop.
“As soon as the driver stopped, the thugs started beating up everybody on board using whips and gun butts,†Ochieng said.
He said the thugs later ordered them to surrender all valuables to them.
However, in the ensuing confusion, security personnel that had been tipped off about the robbery, confronted the thugs and had a fierce exchange of gunfire ensued.
The other thugs escapes into the forest but, Bella was netted.
He was disarmed and taken to Tororo Central Police station. Bella, however, denied committing the offence.