A division Court Martial sitting in Karusandara sub-county, Kasese District, convicted a Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier to 35 years in jail for killing a lay reader of the Anglican Church in Kasese district.
Pte. Abraham Lokwap, 23, attached to the 6th Mountain Brigade Battalion in Hima, was sentenced on Tuesday evening following his implication in the shooting and killing of Benon Nsimenta, a Lay Reader at Kogore Church of Uganda under the South Rwenzori Diocese on Wednesday last week.
Last week, we told you about Nsimenta’s death. He was shot early morning while riding on a motorcycle with his wife Allen Musimenta, at Karungibati, along the Hima- Kasese road. The duo was heading to a garden in Karusandara sub-county.
The army court chaired by Lt. Col. Felix Nyeko heard that the soldier accused them of defying guidelines on the nighttime curfew imposed by the president as part of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Lt. Col. Nyeko argued that all evidence produced before the court-martial sittings which started on Monday proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the two committed the crimes of murder. And, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge.
Meanwhile, the same court handed a 12-months sentence to Lt. Talent Akampurira who commanded the unauthorized patrol in which the Lay Reader's life was lost.
Court also acquitted Pte. Jackson Nyero and Pte. Joel Otim over the same charges based on witness accounts presented by Nsimenta's wife and Doctor Jonathan Kateremwa who conducted Nsimenta’s postmortem.
Lokwap serve his sentence at Makindye military barracks while Lt. Akampurira will serve his sentence from Mubuku government prison.
