The High Court in Kampala has found nine people guilty over the abduction and killing of Susan Magara.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Alex Mackay Ajiji, the court convicted Yusuf Lubega, Mahad Kisalita, Ismail Bukenya, Abubaker Kyewokya, Hassan Wasswa, Abbas Musa Buwembo, Hussein Kato Miiro, Hajjara Nakandi and Muzamir Ssali for orchestrating Magara’s kidnapping, demanding ransom from her family and later murdering her after holding her in captivity for nearly three weeks.
Justice Ajiji ruled that prosecutors had presented overwhelming evidence proving that the nine acted as part of a coordinated criminal enterprise from the time Magara was seized until her death.
“The evidence presented before court leaves no reasonable doubt that the accused jointly participated in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of the deceased,” the judge ruled as he dismissed the defence’s objections.
Court heard that Magara was abducted on the evening of February 7, 2018, in Lungujja, Kampala, while talking to a friend on her mobile phone. The conversation abruptly ended after sounds of a struggle and cries for help were heard. Her vehicle was later recovered abandoned with its engine still running, convincing investigators that she had been forcefully taken.
According to the prosecution, the kidnappers initially sought between US$1 million and US$1.5 million before eventually agreeing to accept US$200,000, equivalent to about Shs700 million, after negotiations with her father, businessman John Magara. Even after the family paid the money, Susan was never freed.
The trial revealed that the family later received a package containing two of Magara’s fingers together with a video recording in which she pleaded for the ransom to be paid. Forensic experts testified that she was still alive when the fingers were amputated.
Justice Ajiji described the act as calculated torture intended to force the family into releasing the ransom money.
Magara’s body was eventually discovered on February 27, 2018, in Kitiko-Birongo along the Entebbe Expressway. A postmortem examination concluded that she died from manual strangulation.
The prosecution built its case using telephone data, DNA findings, financial records, forensic reports, witness testimony and other exhibits gathered during the lengthy investigation. The court heard from 46 prosecution witnesses, while the defence called 20 witnesses.
Justice Ajiji said mobile phone analysis placed several of the convicts at locations linked to the abduction, ransom collection and disposal of the body. The court also found that some of the convicts made expensive purchases shortly after the ransom was paid, with no satisfactory explanation for the source of the money.
Although the defence argued that alleged masterminds Yakub Byensi and Hakim Lugolobi are still on the run, the judge said their absence could not shield the nine convicted individuals from responsibility because the evidence independently established their involvement in the crimes.
The court will hear mitigation before handing down sentences to the nine convicts.
