The High Court in Kampala has sentenced two of the masterminds behind the abduction and murder of businesswoman Susan Magara to death, while seven of their co-convicts will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
Justice Alex Mackay Ajiji delivered the sentences on Wednesday, a day after the court convicted the nine accused of kidnapping Magara with intent to extort ransom before murdering her in 2018.
Nakandi Hajara and Buvumbo Musa Abas were sentenced to death after the court found that they played the leading role in the killing, while the remaining seven convicts were handed life imprisonment for participating in the carefully orchestrated crime.
In his ruling, Justice Ajiji said the court had carefully weighed both the aggravating and mitigating circumstances before arriving at the sentences.
“The offences were premeditated, meticulously planned and executed with exceptional cruelty. The aggravating factors far outweigh the mitigating circumstances,” the judge ruled.
The court said the crime met the threshold for the “rarest of the rare” cases under the Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines) 2013, warranting the death penalty for the principal offenders.
Justice Ajiji found that Nakandi and Buvumbo were directly responsible for Magara’s death after participating in her captivity, injecting her with ketamine and suffocating her with a polythene bag while she was being held in safe houses in Nateete and Konge.
The judge said the other seven accused shared a common criminal intention by planning, facilitating and supporting the kidnapping and murder, making them equally culpable for the offences despite not carrying out the actual killing.
“The evidence established that A4 and A9 were the principal executors of the murder, while the rest actively aided and facilitated the commission of the offences,” Justice Ajiji said.
Court heard that the kidnappers meticulously planned the operation, abducted Magara for financial gain and subjected her to extreme torture before killing her.
Among the aggravating factors considered by the court were the brutality of the murder, the cutting off of the victim’s fingers, the administration of ketamine, suffocation using a polythene bag, the emotional trauma inflicted on the family, and the loss of more than $200,000 paid in ransom. The court also noted that the gang deliberately targeted women.
Justice Ajiji further ordered that all property acquired using proceeds of the ransom be confiscated and sold, with the money to be paid to Magara’s family.
The forfeited assets include 35 acres of land in Buikwe District, one acre of land in Luweero District, several Isuzu trucks, a Coaster bus, Toyota Hiace vans and vehicles used during the commission of the crime.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions welcomed the outcome, saying it reflected the strength of the evidence assembled during years of investigations and prosecution. The case was prosecuted by Chief State Attorneys Sherifah Nalwanga, Irene Nakimbugwe and Joseph Kyomuhendo.
The sentencing comes a day after the court found all nine accused guilty following an extensive trial that relied on witness testimony, forensic evidence, financial records and digital evidence linking the accused to the kidnapping network.
Susan Magara, a 28-year-old cashier at her family’s hardware business and daughter of city businessman Augustine Magara, was abducted on February 7, 2018, as she drove home to Lungujja in Rubaga Division.
Her captors demanded a ransom running into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and despite the family paying about $200,000, Magara was murdered. Her body was recovered on February 27, 2018, in Kitiko along Entebbe Road.
A postmortem examination revealed that she had been tortured before she was killed, sparking national outrage and exposing the growing menace of organised kidnapping-for-ransom gangs operating in Uganda.
