MUKONO – Mukono High Court has sentenced a 27-year-old woman to 18 years and 9 months to Luzira prison for murdering her husband.
The deceased was Mr. Eric Ssenyonjo Kiddu, an employee of Hotel Africana in Kampala.
Ms. Jackieline Nakku was convicted and sentenced after Justice Susan Okalanyi a high court judge read the verdict to the court on Wednesday, June 12 at Mukono court.
The Judge ruled that the accused committed the malicious crime on February 14, 2018 –Valentines’ day – at her marital home in Nabuuti village, Mukono Central Division in Mukono Municipality.
The Court learnt that Ms. Nakku woke up on a fateful night and found that there were three men in her husband’s room whom she suspected to be “robbers.”
At the time, the couple had separate bedrooms – she says she ran out to get help.
Ms. Nakku claims that she ran out to seek help from her neighbours and one of them waited for the robbers in a trench next to their fence but no one came out.
The alerted neighbour threw a stone at the window that woke up the children.
They then got into the house only to find the deceased laying on his bed in a pool of blood with 2 cuts on his head. Next to him was a machete (panga), iron bar with blood on it and a half brick.
A medical examination was carried out on her by one of the prosecution’s witnesses and it was proved that Ms. Nakku was of sound mind.
During the court sessions, Ms. Nakku always pleaded not guilty whenever she was asked.
With all the doors being intact, no sign of burglary or any intruder; Justice Okalanyi said that the supposed “robbers” did not have any motive to murder the late Mr. Ssenyonjo.
She said: “ It doesn’t make sense how the supposed “robbers” would kill the deceased and leave money in his wallet (UGX 480,000) and his phone behind.”
“I don’t see the motive they could have had for killing the deceased.” She added.
The court presented the circumstantial evidence on the accused’s conduct before and after the crime saying the manner in which Ms. Nakku wasted time narrating the story yet her husband was left with “robbers” shows that she was not in a hurry to save him.
The threats she made to end his life and the fact that she always felt like she was sleeping next to a corpse annoyed her, that her husband had an affair with their family friend.
Ms.Nakku’s lawyer urges her case saying she couldn’t be the murderer because her fingerprints were not found on the iron bar as testified by the state’s witness.
Even when there were no prints on the iron bar, the court concluded that she could have used gloves which shows that she participated in the murder of her husband.
History
Ms. Nakku got married to her deceased husband in July 2015. She and her husband have 2 children together.
The deceased was murdered on February 14, in Nabuuti.
She was a former student at MUBS Nakawa where she dropped out because of her pregnancy and got married.
She has been on remand for 1 year and 3months.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but however, the judge subtracted the 1 year and 3 months she had spent on remand to make 18 years and 9 months.
