The teeth gnashing memories of one of the country’s most gruesome life exterminations recorded returned on Friday as the Supreme Court convened to decide on an appeal by jailed businessman Kato Kajubi against his life imprisonment for the murder of a 12 year old in 2008.
The appeal which had dragged on for six years concluded with a decision by the Supreme Court to have the errant businessman confined at Luzira Maximum Prison for the rest of his life.
The five man panel of justices led by Alfonse Owiny-Dollo unanimously ruled that there were no any grounds to fault the earlier sentences by the trial court and the court of appeal.
The judges explained that in Kajubi’s case the Court of Appeal noted that the maximum sentence is death although it is not mandatory as was held in Attorney General Vs Susan Kigula case.
“Indeed, owing to the gruesome, horrendous, callous and most unjustifiable killing of an innocent and defenseless 12-year-old infant by decapitation and cutting off the private parts, it is unreasonable for anyone to contend that a sentence of life imprisonment upon conviction is either harsh or disproportionate,” the court ruled.
“We all cherish to live in a society where we do not have to worry that someone driven by ill motives could pounce on us and disrupt our lives. We all desire that our world is devoid of human monsters and is at peace with itself and our hearts never have to skip a beat because our children have taken a little longer than usual to return home from playing with their mates,” they added.
The justices further ruled that they were satisfied that the Court of Appeal considered the gravity of the crime and the mitigating factors presented by Kajubi.
Kajubi was in 2012 convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for hiring Umar Kateregga, a witchdoctor and his wife Mariam Nabukeera to slaughter Joseph Kasirye for ritual purposes.
Prosecution adduced evidence showing that Kajubi had taken Kasirye’s head and genitals to be used in “cleansing” his real estate businesses after the sacrifice prompting the then High Court judge, Mike Chibita to sentence him to life imprisonment.
In 2014, the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the conviction and life imprisonment sentence basing on evidence of the couple whom court said knew something about Kasirye’s death because they are the ones who killed him on orders of Kajubi who then picked the head and private parts.
The court ruled that it was a clear indication the businessman was involved or knew something about it.
However, in his appeal before the Supreme Court, Kajubi had contended that Kateregga and Nabukeera were accomplice witnesses but their evidence was never corroborated.
“The evidence had many contradictions and inconsistencies but these were ignored by the lower courts,” read part of Kajubi’s appeal documents in the Supreme Court.
The businessman had further contended that his defence was never considered by the High Court before coming up with its decision to convict and sentence him.
Prosecution said Kajubi sponsored the ritual murder of Kasirye, a then pupil of Kayugi Primary School in Mukungwe sub-county in Masaka District on October 27, 2008.
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