The Military Court Martial in Makindye presided over by Lt. General Andrew Gutti has convicted Private Dennis Tumukunde of failure to protect war materials.
Tumukunde was convicted on Tuesday.
In November 2018, the convict was arraigned before the General Court Martial and charged with failure to protect war materials and desertion. However, the offence of desertion was later dropped.
The prosecution told the court that on May 19 2018 while at Bendegele village Katabi Town Council in Wakiso District, Tumukunde was found in illegal possession of a Sub Machine Gun -SMG and ten bullets.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges but the state prosecutors presented five witnesses who told the court that they received information from concerned citizens in Katabi that there was an illegal gun being used in robberies between Abaita babiri, Kasenyi, and Entebbe Express High Way.
Tumukunde argued that on May 18 2018 he had traveled to Entebbe and while in a shop with his friend, he was arrested and taken to Kasenyi Police Station. He added that a few minutes later, he was taken to an open house where he found two men with an SMG rifle and they informed Tumukunde that the gun belonged to him.
The seven-member panel of the Court Martial in their ruling noted that they are convinced that Tumukunde was found with the gun in his house.
"The accused did not account for the said gun and ammunition to prove that they had been issued to him in the course of his employment. In the charge and caution statement, he stated that one Omona wanted to sell the gun and he directed him where it was hidden and he went and picked it", said Gutti.
While Prosecutor Lt Alex Lasto Mukhwana asked the court to hand Tumukunde an appropriate sentence, the convict’s lawyer Major Silas Kamanda Mutungi asked for more time to make a response. The court was adjourned to April 12 2022 for sentencing.
