Kalungi sentenced to 4 years in jail for Nebanda’s death
By ANTONY WESAKA
Posted Friday, February 7 2014 at 13:45
Posted Friday, February 7 2014 at 13:45
KAMPALA.
Adam Suleiman Kalungi will spend the next four years in Luzira prison for negligently causing the death of former Butaleja District Woman MP Cerinah Nebanda.
Kalungi was convicted last week but the sentencing was deferred to yesterday.
The Makindye Chief Magistrate Esta Nambayo noted that Kalungi was not remorseful about Nebanda’s death during the trial.
But on the other hand, the magistrate agreed with the mitigating submissions by Kalungi’s lawyer Nsubuga Mubiru that the late Nebanda contributed the bigger culpability to her death.
The magistrate explained that medical evidence showed that Nebanda died of multiple organ failure due to consumption of drugs and alcohol and that Kalungi was not held responsible for administering them to her.
The maximum penalty of manslaughter charge is life imprisonment but under the new sentencing guidelines, the sentence of manslaughter ranges from three years up to life imprisonment.
Magistrate Nambayo added: “It’s my opinion that Adam Kalungi owed an explanation to the people of Butaleja and the entire nation for the circumstances under which the Hon Cerinah Nebanda died. Lack of Kalungi’s presence to explain, caused a lot of pain and suffering emotionally, socially and economically to many people.”
“Very expensive investigations had to be done; a lot of time has been spent on this case working out the puzzle of what caused Hon Nebanda’s death. All this time Mr Kalungi was in court also waiting for the finding.”
She added: “I wish to emphasise that the purpose of sentencing is to promote a sense of responsibility by the offender, acknowledging the harm done to the victim and the community. He needs time to develop a character of responsibility. He should be able to own up even when things have gone wrong,” the magistrate further ruled.
Last week on Friday, the same court found Kalungi guilty of the charge of manslaughter for delaying to take Nebanda to hospital for fear that journalists would see the MP and it would cause her embarrassment.
He found Nebanda in a bad condition at his home on December 14, 2012. The same court also sentenced Ali Omar Alimuzahim to one year in jail for unlawful possession of narcotic drugs. The maximum sentence for this offence is five years in jail.
The magistrate also ordered that the narcotics found with Omar, be handed over to the police Anti-Narcotics squad for proper disposal.
The magistrate reminded the convicts that they could appeal within 14 days if they were not satisfied with her ruling.
Kalungi’s lawyer Mr Mubiru said he would appeal.
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30058:-kalungi-mother-blames-govt-over-nebanda-case&catid=34:news&Itemid=114
![]( "Adam Kalungi (C) was sentenced to 4 years for manslaughter")
When Chief Magistrate Esta Nambayo announced that Adam Kalungi was guilty of manslaughter on January 31, his mother hoped and prayed the magistrate would hand down a light jail term.
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Kalungi mother blames govt over Nebanda case
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30058:-kalungi-mother-blames-govt-over-nebanda-case&catid=34:news&Itemid=114
Sunday, 09 February 2014 22:22
Adam Kalungi (C) was sentenced to 4 years for manslaughter
At the stroke of 9am last Friday, the mother arrived in Makindye court accompanied by her daughters Shamim, Hadijah and Mariam Suleiman.
They sat in the back row of a fully-packed court with their eyes fixed on Nambayo, hoping for mercy. Thirty minutes later, when Nambayo stopped reading her four-page ruling, the family was in tears.
Kalungi was to spend four years in jail for a negligent act that led to the death of his late girlfriend, the then Butaleja Woman MP Cerinah Nebanda.
Moments after the sentencing, the family criticised the ruling as unfair and harsh – not least because a week earlier, Nambayo had said the defendant’s role in the death of Nebanda was minimal.
Kalungi’s mother (who refused to reveal her real names) even suspected that Nambayo was influenced by the government.
“This is something I cannot understand and I will never understand. Surely throughout, if this magistrate was independent, there is no way she would have sentenced him to all those years…This must be government pressure,” she said.
She said Kalungi didn’t kill Nebanda.
“How can somebody do his best to save another person’s life and then he gets four years in prison for that? At this rate Ugandans will stop saving others after this ruling,” Kalungi’s mother said.
Kalungi’s sister Shamim concurred: “It’s very strange that a person like Kalungi who cannot even kill a chicken is now convicted as a result of a person’s death …Is there justice in this country?,”
Like her mother, Shamim cited government’s hand.
“Those people [Government] have always wanted someone to take the blame for this case and Kalungi has been used as a scapegoat but this is not the end of it.” Shamim said.
She said, “The case has been concluded but I know that up to now the country does not know who really killed Nebanda.”
She said, “The case has been concluded but I know that up to now the country does not know who really killed Nebanda.”
Sentencing
While announcing the four-year sentence, Nambayo said she was swayed to be harsh because Kalungi was not “remorseful” during trial. She also faulted him for disappearing after Nebanda died.
“Mr Kalungi owed an explanation to the people of Butaleja and the entire nation for the circumstances under which Hon Cerinah Nebanda died. Lack of Kalungi’s presence to explain…. caused a lot of pain and suffering emotionally, socially and economically to so many people,” she ruled.
Nambayo faulted Kalungi for keeping quiet for long yet he knew what exactly had killed Nebanda.
“Very expensive investigations had been done. A lot of time has been spent working out the puzzle of what caused Nebanda’s death; all this time Kalungi was in court waiting for the findings.”
“Mr Kalungi needs time to develop a character of responsibility. He should be able to own up even when things go wrong,” Nambayo concluded.
Appeal
Meanwhile, Kalungi’s lawyer Nsubuga Mubiru told The Observer that they would appeal both the conviction and the sentence in the High court.
“Surely we have no option but to appeal this in 14 days …the ruling is very clear that Kalungi didn’t kill Nebanda and then you give him four years in prison?” a rather perturbed Mubiru asked.