State asks court to reject Kajubi's appeal

By Hillary Nsambu                          

Principal State Attorneys Alex Michael Ojok and Simon Peter Ssemalemba, have asked the Court of Appeal to reject city tycoon Godfrey Kato Kajubi’s criminal appeal arguing that the trial court properly convicted him ritual murder.

The attorneys who represented the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) have opposed Kajubi’s appeal and the sentence of imprisonment for life, saying the trial judge convicted him after properly evaluating the evidence. 

Anthony Wameli, who represented Kajubi, had submitted that Kajubi should be set free because the trial court at Masaka relied on uncorroborated evidence of Umar Kateregga and his wife Mariam Nabukeera to secure the conviction in the murder of 12-year-old Joseph Kasirye.

Kateregga, who was Kajubi’s traditional healer, testified that Kajubi and his aide, a one Stephen, slaughtered the boy in his (Kateregga’s) house after sedating him. 

Kateregga also testified that he had lured the innocent boy into their house after Kajubi had asked him for a boy no more than 12 years old who would pick eggs at his poultry farm in Masaka Municipality. 

However, at the trial, Kateregga told court that the deal turned sour when Kajubi and his aide arrived at his house at midnight and demanded for the boy.

Kateregga told court that he had lured the boy into his house away from the Kasirye’s grandparents’ home which was a stone’s throw and kept him there until Kajubi showed up with his aide to commit the murder. 

However, Wameli told court that Kateregga and his wife were accomplices who cannot incriminate Kajubi on their claims.

The attorneys, however, submitted that despite being accomplices, the two witnesses were truthful. Kateregga led the Police where Kajubi had driven them that fateful night for purposes of dumping the decapitated body of the slaughtered boy and they found it there.

Justices Remmy Kasule, Faith Mwondha and Eldad Mwangusya presided over the appeal. They said they would give their judgment on a day to be announced in future.