Trigger happy UPDF Soldier sentenced to life imprisonment for murder

Trigger happy UPDF Soldier sentenced to life imprisonment for murder

By Byamukama Libino

Mbarara Second Division Court Martial held at Mugateete playground in Rukundo town council on Thursday sentenced to life one of its own officer, Private Walibwa Hamisi after pleading guilty to two counts of murder and attempted murder.

Private Walibwa who has been a UPDF soldier attached to the 35th battalion and deployed in Kibaaya was convicted of killing by shooting an 18 year old Nizeyimana Zeferin and injuring his comrade Achia William on 2nd June 2022 by the court chaired by Colonel Rodgers Kitwala.

   The Court Martial chaired by Col. Kitwala sitting on Thursday

The convict Walibwa is a resident of Mbale district aged 38, and has been a serving UPDF soldier for the last 20 years while the late Nizeyimana Zeferin was an 18 year old and a resident of Kibande village in Rukundo town council.

According to state prosecution, it was at 11:30pm on 22nd June 2022 when private Walibwa Hamis was at Friends Pub in Rukundo town council playing pool and saw Nizeyimana passing by and ordered him to sit down before his colleague Private Achia William intervened to have Nizeyimana pardoned but Walibwa turned a deaf hear, got his gun and shot Ziyimana on his head and Achia’s foot.

Private Walibwa’s defence lawyers, Lieutenant James Omondi and Private Mukasa Isaac asked court to provide a lenient sentence because the time and scene of action indicate that the act was done under the influence of alcohol and a gun scuffle between the two UPDF officers who were at the bar.

Under the advice of the court martial judge advocate Major Steven Mugarura, the court chair, Colonel Kitwala sentenced Walibwa on both counts in Ndorwa Prison, Kabale. He said that Walibwa has a right to appeal within the next 14 days.

Leaders, residents and family members of the deceased were not pleased with the sentence saying that the convict deserved a harsher sentence. They demanded for some financial compensation as a cover-up.

Meanwhile, the Kisoro Resident district commissioner Hajji Shafique Ssekandi asked residents to take Walibwa as an example and desist from violence that can lead to imprisonment.

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