Nine people have been convicted over the kidnapping and murder of Susan Magara, ending one of Uganda’s longest-running and most closely watched criminal cases.
Justice Alex Mackay Ajiji of the Criminal Division of the High Court in Kampala found Yusuf Lubega, Mahad Kisalita, Ismail Bukenya, Abubaker Kyewokya, Hassan Wasswa, Abbas Musa Buwembo, Hussein Kato Miiro, Hajjara Nakandi and Muzamir Ssali guilty of kidnapping Magara for ransom before killing her after holding her captive for nearly three weeks.
The court is due to hear mitigation before sentencing the convicts on Tuesday.
The nine had denied charges of kidnapping with intent to obtain a ransom and murder. Prosecutors said they abducted the 28-year-old from Lungujja in Kampala on 7 February 2018 before killing her later that month at Konge.
In his ruling, Justice Ajiji said the prosecution had established beyond reasonable doubt that the group acted together throughout the crime.
The judge ruled that the accused planned the abduction, kept Magara in captivity, demanded money from her family, cut off two of her fingers to force payment and later killed her because she could identify those responsible.
The court heard that the kidnapping unfolded while Magara was speaking on the phone to her friend, Yusuf Muhindo, at about 7:50pm on 7 February 2018.
Muhindo told the court he suddenly heard a struggle before Magara cried out in Luganda, “Temunkuba” (“Don’t beat me”), followed by the voices of two men. The call lasted about 40 seconds before it was disconnected.
He immediately alerted police and informed Magara’s family.
Later that evening, investigators found her Toyota RAV4 abandoned in Lungujja with its engine still running, while her mobile phones remained inside the vehicle.
Justice Ajiji said the distress call, combined with the abandoned vehicle, demonstrated that Magara had been taken against her will.
According to court evidence, the kidnappers contacted the family the following day demanding between one million and one-and-a-half million US dollars.
Following negotiations with her father, businessman John Magara, the ransom demand was reduced to 200,000 US dollars, equivalent to about Shs700 million at the time.
Despite the negotiations, evidence showed the kidnappers twice abandoned attempts to collect the money between 15 and 17 February after suspecting police surveillance.
On 19 February, John Magara was instructed to collect a package from a fuel station.
It contained two severed fingers belonging to his daughter together with a flash drive labelled “Must Watch.”
The storage device contained a video of Magara pleading with her father to meet the kidnappers’ demands.
Digital forensic examiner Enock Kanene authenticated the recording, while laboratory analysis confirmed the severed fingers belonged to Magara.
Justice Ajiji said forensic findings showed Magara was still alive when her fingers were cut off, describing the act as deliberate torture intended to pressure the family into paying the ransom.
The court heard that Florence Magara later delivered the negotiated payment at Kanaaba in Ndejje on 23 February, following instructions from the kidnappers.
Although the ransom was paid, Magara was never released.
Her body was discovered four days later at Kitiko-Birongo village along the Entebbe Expressway.
A postmortem examination found that two fingers were missing and concluded she died from asphyxia caused by manual strangulation.
During the trial, prosecutors led by Chief State Attorney Joseph Kyomuhendo, assisted by Irene Nakimbugwe and Sharifah Nalwanga, presented evidence from 46 witnesses, including one summoned by the court from the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA). The defence called 20 witnesses.
The prosecution also relied on more than 80 exhibits, including DNA evidence, telecommunications records, forensic laboratory reports, postmortem findings, crime scene documentation, reconstruction videos, bank statements, land transaction records and vehicle ownership documents.
Justice Ajiji said telecommunications forensic evidence presented by expert Frank Nyakairu showed the accused remained in frequent contact before, during and after the kidnapping.
Phone records also placed several of the convicts at locations where ransom collections were organised and at other places linked to the crime.
The judge further noted that some of the accused directed investigators to locations where Magara had been held, where ransom exchanges had taken place and where her body was eventually abandoned.
He ruled that such knowledge could only have come from individuals directly involved in the offences.
The court also found that several of the convicts acquired valuable assets, including land in Buikwe and Luweero districts, commercial trucks and other vehicles, shortly after the ransom was paid.
Justice Ajiji said the explanations offered for the source of the money were unsupported, describing the purchases as strong circumstantial evidence that the assets had been acquired using ransom proceeds.
Lawyers representing the accused argued that prosecutors had failed to directly connect their clients to the crimes, questioned the reliability of the telecommunications evidence and pointed out that alleged masterminds Yakub Byensi and Hakim Lugolobi remain fugitives.
However, the judge rejected those submissions, saying the communication records, forensic evidence, financial documents, witness testimony and the conduct of the accused formed a complete chain of evidence proving their common intention and participation in the kidnapping and murder.
He also ruled that the continued absence of the alleged masterminds did not reduce the criminal responsibility of the nine convicted individuals because their involvement had been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
