Court Martial sitting at Muhooti Barracks in Fort Portal Tourism has handed a UPDF soldier a 90-year sentence over murder.
Private Paul Lotukei was found guilty of murdering Pamela Nayebale, 26, and her nine-month-old son, Owen Kumererwa, both residents of Kitumba village in Nyakigumba Sub County, Bunyangabu district.
Court, which was chaired by Lt Col Felix Nyero, heard that on October 30, Lotukei went to Valley Two bar in Kitumba with his colleague and UPDF Doctor, a one Thomas, and they started taking a local brew called Mukomboti.
The eyewitnesses added that when he returned from a short call, Dr Thomas asked him to pay his 1000 shillings debt and when he failed, he gave the phone to Nayebale who was the bartender to keep until she is paid.
However, Lotukei also disagreed the arrangements and he rushed to the detach where he picked his PK Machine Gun and went back to Valley Two bar at around 8pm where Nayebale was behind the bar counter breastfeeding her baby.
Lotukei confessed that he immediately shot the two dead before returning to the detach where he was arrested from the next morning. Dr Thomas has since disappeared from the detach.
Nyero then ruled that Lotukei was guilty on two counts of murder, adding that since he killed a mother and her baby, the crime was the worst and deserved one of the highest sentences. Lt. Col. Nyero speaking……
Christopher Kiiza, the grandfather of Kusemerwa, appreciated the sentence, saying that justice had been served. END