Government appeals Kajubi acquittal

By Steven Candia



THE Government is to appeal the acquittal of Kampala businessman Godfrey Kato Kajubi of charges of murdering 12-year-old Joseph Kasirye for ritual sacrifice in Masaka in 2008.



The head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Edward Ochom, told said yesterday he had discussed the matter with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) immediately after the High Court gave its ruling in Masaka on Friday.




“The DPP is going to appeal,” Ochom said. He wondered, why, despite all the witnesses and evidence produced before the court, the judge said Kajubi did not have a case to answer.



“This is not going to be the first time we are appealing. We appealed in the Ikoba case and you saw the outcome,” Ochom said.



Ikoba Tibagalana, the LC5 chief of Mayuge district, had been acquitted of charges of murdering his political opponent, but a higher court reversed the ruling. Tibagalana is now on the run.



In the Masaka murder case, Justice Moses Mukiibi cleared Kajubi and ordered his immediate release, saying the main witnesses had deliberately lied to the court and the prosecution had failed to prove a case against the suspect.



Mukiibi said the evidence of the principle witnesses, withdoctor Umar Kateregga and his wife Mariam Nabukeera, was contradictory and, therefore, unreliable.

“The prosecution evidence is so unreliable that no reasonable tribunal can safely convict the accused on it. The accused is set free and should be released from jail unless he is held on other lawful charges,” the judge ruled.



Initially Kajubi, Kateregga and Nabukeera had been jointly indicted for the murder. But the DPP dropped the charge against Kateregga and Nabukeera and promised to deal with them separately later. They were released from prison and turned into State witnesses.

A handful of people in the courtroom clapped after Kajubi was acquitted, but the majority showed disappointment. None of Kasirye’s relatives was present