By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: City businessman Godfrey Kato Kajubi, who was convicted of human sacrifice and sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of Joseph Kasirye, 12, wants his conviction quashed by the Supreme Court.
This Website has learnt that Kajubi appeared before the supreme court on Wednesday May 15th, 2019 for the hearing of his plea. Kajubi was arrested in 2008 together with his witchdoctor Umar Kateregga and his wife Mariam Nabukeera. However, after intense interrogation, Kateregga and his wife agreed to collaborate with the state to pin Kasirye in the gruesome ritual murder, after they revealed that he was the one who had actually murdered the boy. Although Kajubi denied the allegations through his lawyers, Ausi Twijukye and Fred Kamugunda, he was found guilty by the Masaka High Court and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012. His lawyers appealed the conviction in the Court of Appeal but the ruling was upheld. It was after the court of Appeal upholding the High Court conviction that Kajubi decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court, which he wants to overturn the ruling. During the case hearing, Prosecution told court that Kajubi committed the crime on October 27, 2008 when he hired Kateregga and Nabukeera to kill Kasirye, a pupil of Kayugi Primary School in Mukungwe sub-county in Masaka district, for ritual purposes. According to prosecution, Kajubi cut off Kasirye’s head and genitals and disappeared with them to be used in his real estate businesses in Kampala, Jinja and Masaka. After a six month trial period, Justice Mike Chibita found Kajubi guilty of having lured Kateregga and his wife Nabukeera to murder Kasirye.
Justice Chibita said that after analyzing testimonies from 18 witnesses as presented by the state, he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Kajubi actually participated in the ritual murder. Chibita explained that the two key witnesses, Umar Kateregga and Mariam Nabukeera, squarely put Kajubi at the crime scene. Chibita said that after analyzing the telephone communications between Kajubi and Kateregga one of the witnesses on October 27, 2008, whereby Kateregga pinned Kajubi on having asked him to pick the child, it was clear that Kajubi participated in the killing. Chibita also said that although Kajubi’s lawyers claimed that there were a lot of lies basing on the inconsistencies of the witnesses, the testimonies of Nabukeera and her husband Katerega corroborated and therefore put the convict at the crime scene.
Court Asks for Written Submissions
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has asked for written submissions in the appeal case of businessman Kato Kajubi. Justice Augustine Nshimye ordered that Kajubi, through his lawyers Shaban Sanywa, should put in their submissions by June 19th, 2019 then the prosecution file their reply by June 26. Justice Nshimye directed Kajubi’s lawyers to submit in their rejoinder by July 1st and then the hearing will commence on July 16th, 2019.
