Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the High Court that acquitted Sarah Nabikolo of all charges linked to the murder of her husband former Kampala Businessman Eria Ssebunya Bugembe aka Kasiwukira.
Ssebunya was a prominent city tycoon who was part of the Kwagalana Group who own a number businesses in the city. He was knocked dead in 17th October 2014 as he jogged near his home in Muyenga , Kampala.
Sarah Nabikolo Ssebunya was in in October 2016 acquitted by Justice Wilson Masalu Musene but her co-accused, including cousin sister Sandra Nakungu and a Muyenga-based policeman Jayden Ashiraf, were found guilty and convicted for the 2014 murder of the prominent Kampala businessman.
In October 2016, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) appealed against the acquittal and subsequent release of Sarah Nabikolo Ssebunya. In his submission, DPP said he is dissatisfied with the High Court decision that found Nabikolo innocent of her husband’s murder, but went ahead to convict and sentence her co-accused Jayden Ashiraf and Sandra Nakungu.
Appearing before a panel of three justices earlier today, the appeal was dismissed on grounds that prosecution failed to adduced evidences linking the deceased’s wife, Sarah Nabikolo to the murder of Kasiwukira.
Justice Ezekiel Muhanguzi, Elizabeth Musoke and Hellen Obura maintained that evidence squarely placed Jayden Ashiraf at the scene of crime as he was seen by several witnesses behind the wheel of the killer vehicle that knocked Kasiwukira dead on the morning of October 17, 2014.
The appeal also relied of John Bugembe, Kasiwukira’s brother who told court that the deceased had earlier informed him about the misunderstandings they had with his wife. However curt quashed it on grounds that the witness had no details of their relationship.
In their ruling, judges summed that the recording presented to court claiming that it embedded information about how Kasuwukira’s death plan would be executed, had no evidence that the person being referred to as Madam was Kasiwukira’s wife.
“The available evidence is inconclusive can only leads to suspicion and suspicion cannot be based upon to support a conviction. Neither of the prosecution witnesses at trial made a direct reference to the respondent (Nabikolo). The persons who were mentioned as involved in the plan were the ones who carried out the murder,” they said in their ruling
In summation, court ruled that Nabikolo was not involved the murder of his husband Eria Bugembe and hence dismissed the appeal.
