Iganga High Court Judge, David Batema on Friday convicted Fred Gatukaya (45) for murdering a Chinese national, Yesu Yung on September 1, 2017. Gatukaya was convicted for having killed Yung by shooting using a pistol. Yung was a cashier at Nile Steel and Plastics Limited located in Nangwa village in Nakisunga sub-county, Mukono district.
He said that he delayed reading the judgement following his transfer from Mukono to Iganga High Court. He had therefore come to Mukono to particularly deliver Gatukaya’s judgement which was among the pending few cases that he had handled during his service in Mukono.
He said that he had set to deliver this judgement on January 27 but his transfer to Iganga could not allow him.
Prosecution led by Joanita Amumpire had told court that Gatukaya, a resident of Banda Zone III in Nakawa Municipality while riding a bodaboda uninterrupted, got access into the factory where he walked to Yung’s office demanding money from her.
Amumpire further told court that there ensued a scuffle; leading to Gatukaya’s shooting of Yung with four bullets that caused her death. The scuffle was recorded on the company’s CCTV cameras and it was that footage that led to Gatukaya’s arrest.
As he first read the conviction, Batema read that Gatukaya before Grade One Magistrate, by then, Sarah Tusiime at Mukono Magistrate’s Court recorded an extra judicial statement as he confessed to have committed the offense himself.
Batema said that he had agreed with the assessors who advised the court to convict him on the charge of murder of Yung.
Amumpire asked the judge to give Gatukaya a deterrent sentence which will keep him away from the society saying following his behaviours that involved killing of an innocent person, he was not fit to stay in public. She therefore asked the judge to at least sentence Gatukaya to 35 years.
The defence lawyer, Annet Aweri told the judge that the convict is a man of two wives with 10 children and that he looks after three orphans.
Aweri said that Gatukaya has been on remand for six years, has chronic ulcers and that he is disabled following the gunshots which were fired at him by the prisons officers when he tried to escape. She therefore asked the judge to at least sentence him to 15 years.
However, Batema said that having considered the mitigating factors, given the fact that the convict had planned to use a deadly weapon, and that even after disarming the Chinese woman, he went ahead to shoot her four times.
He said Gatukaya had not shown any sign of remorse hence sentencing him to imprisonment of 30 years in Upper Luzira Prison. He however deducted the period of remand.
Batema told Gatukaya that he was free to appeal if he felt that the sentence was so harsh or the conviction was wrong. He said that the appeal must be done in only 14 days after the passing of the sentence.