KAMPALA – The High Court, on Monday, July 15, charged two suspects for the murder of 19-year-old Columbian University student Andrew Gatare in 2015 have been convicted of murder by the High court in Kampala.
Justice Angelin Flavia Ssenoga has convicted Ronald Mutebi and Geoffrey Lubwama aka Jeff for the murder of the Rwandan National who was attacked on the outside Kampala Serena hotel where he had gone to watch fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
This is after two court assessors Rehema Babirye and Bogere Betty advised the court to find the suspects guilty of the offence stating that evidence adduced by the state was sufficient enough to prove the murder case against them.
The victim apparently met his death at around 2 pm as he was looking for a bodaboda around Nile Avenue to his home in Kololo after watching fireworks.
The convicts first robbed him of his valuables including a blackberry mobile phone, his wallet containing an unspecified amount of cash before murdering him.
The prosecution alleged that the duo and others still at large on January 1, 2015, at Kampala Serena Hotel on Nile Avenue with malice aforethought killed Gatare before robbing his cell phone.
At the time of his death, Gatare was pursuing electrical engineering at Columbia University in Canada and was here for the Christmas holiday.
His lifeless body was found by police and was later pronounced dead at Mulago hospital and a postmortem carried out revealed that cause of death was trauma due to a deadly weapon on his head which was identified as a hammer during the trial.
The suspects were arrested after police tracked the blackberry mobile phone they had stolen from the deceased.
However, Mutebi a resident of Kazo had sold the phone to a one Damulira at 60,000 and upon the arrest of Damulira, he informed the court that Mutebi had sold him the phone and he had paid a down payment of 40,000 shillings.
When Mutebi was quizzed by police, he confessed to the murder and stealing the phone with his accomplice Lubwama.
These have further been remanded to Luzira prison until the 22nd of this month when they will be handed their sentences.
