Ms Shanita Namuyimbwa, also known as Bad Black, has withdrawn her appeal case, which was to be heard today by the Court of Appeal.
Ms Namuyimbwa had challenged the four-year sentence that was handed to her in July 2012 by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire of the Anti-Corruption Court for embezzlement of more than Shs11b belonging to Daveshan Limited, a company she owned with her European boyfriend David Greenhalgh.
Withdrawal
Namuyiimba, in a letter dated April 14, sent through the officer in change of Luzira Women Prison, invoked provisions of rule 70 of the Court of Appeal to withdraw her appeal without giving a clear reason.
According to the rule, an appeal may be withdrawn at any time before hearing by notice in writing to the registrar and signed by the appellant; and upon the notice being given, the appeal shall be taken to have been dismissed.
It also states that, an appeal which has been withdrawn may be restored by leave of the court on the application of the appellant if the court is satisfied that the notice of withdrawal was induced by fraud or mistake and that the interests of justice requires that the appeal be heard. However, the court received the letter and signed it on April 21.
In 2012, Ms Namuyimbwa applied for bail and was temporarily released, pending the hearing and final disposal of her appeal in the Court of Appeal, which she has just withdrawn.
One of the reasons she advanced for bail then, was that before she was convicted and sentenced, she had breast implants that needed medical attention.
She also told court that after having been incarcerated, she developed serious medical complications that could only be treated in Dubai, UAE. Namuyimbwa was later released on bail and ordered to pay Shs100m in cash, which she paid. Her four sureties were bonded Shs10m, which each would forfeit to the government, upon her jumping bail.
Namuyimbwa, however, jumped bail and was six months later arrested in Rwanda from where she was extradited to Uganda.
The court sent her back to Luzira prison to continue serving the sentence, hence this application for reinstating her bail pending her appeal.
This article is for the daily monitor