The Supreme Court has confirmed the 20-year prison terms handed to Police Constable Ashraf Jaden and Sandra Nakkungu for the murder of businessman Eriya Sebunya, popularly known as Kasiwukira.
The five-member panel, headed by Justice Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, dismissed the pair’s appeal on Thursday after finding insufficient grounds to interfere with their convictions and sentences.
Kasiwukira was killed on October 17, 2014, while jogging near his home in Muyenga, Kampala. He was struck by a vehicle in an incident that prosecutors said was part of a deliberate plan to eliminate him.
In 2016, the High Court, then presided over by the late Justice Wilson Masalu Musene, found Jaden and Nakkungu guilty of murder and sentenced each of them to 20 years in prison.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on video footage which the High Court said showed Jaden making two previous attempts to attack Kasiwukira before the fatal incident.
The court also linked Nakkungu to the vehicle allegedly used in the final attack, finding that she was its owner and that it was used by Jaden when Kasiwukira was knocked down.
The two later challenged both their convictions and sentences before the Supreme Court, arguing that the lower court had erred in its decision.
However, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal, leaving the original 20-year prison sentences in place.
The ruling brings to a close the latest stage of the long-running legal proceedings arising from Kasiwukira’s 2014 murder.
