Court accepts Mathew Kirabo’s confession as evidence

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Justice Henry Kaweesa Isabirye has accepted the submission of a written confession by Mathew Kirabo, who is accused of killing his girlfriend Desire Mirembe.

Last month, Kaweesa ruled that the case will proceed without Kirabo who skipped court.

The prosecution asked the High court to wave Kirabo’s right to appear in line with Article 28 (5) of the constitution.

Justice Kaweesa said that since Kirabo is not in court, the court will rely on his confession statement that he killed Mirembe. The confession was recorded by Detective Herbert Wanyoto.

Kirabo’s lawyer Charles Dalton Opwonya said that his client was tortured and coerced to sign the confession and should not be accepted by the court.

But Justice Isabirye ruled that if Kirabo was coerced, he had a right to retract the confession.

Before the ruling, State Attorney Happiness Ainebyona brought two more witnesses, Jeffrey Onen, the Commissioner Government Analytical Laboratory, and Detective Amos Tulyagyenda to prove that Kirabo was not coerced.

Kirabo is suspected to have murdered his fiancé Desire Mirembe,19, on July 10, 2015, and dumped her body in Lugazi sugarcane plantations in Buikwe district where it was found on July 11, 2015. Kirabo confessed to the murder and was charged in Jinja High Court, remanded to Nalufenya prison in Jinja.

The case was then moved to Mukono High Court on the instructions of the then principal judge Yorokamu Bamwine after the state complained that the crime had been committed in the Mukono jurisdiction. On October 6, the High Court in Mukono finally started hearing the case after 6 years.

*****

URN