High Court in Mukono has convicted a man for conniving with his wife to kill their eight-year-old son. David Buyinza, a resident of Kisawo Village in Kayunga district appeared before Lady Justice Margret Mutonyi on Thursday evening who found him guilty of conniving with his second wife Zaina Babirye to murder 8-year-old Charles Odongo.
Court heard that on August 24, 2014 while at Kisawo Village in Kayunga district, the couple strangled the minor to death and dumped his body in an incomplete house near their rented premises. A post-mortem report presented by the prosecution showed that the couple broke the minor’s neck leading to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain and eventual death.
Investigations by the detective Justine Opio showed that the minor’s body was only transferred and dumped in the house since there was no sign of struggle. Babirye pleaded to the crime and opted to negotiate for a lighter sentence through plea bargaining. She told the court that they had strangled the minor and was sentenced to seven years in jail.
Buyinza pleaded not guilty to the crime and decided to go through the full trial. Through his defence lawyer, Ali Salim, Buyinza insisted that he was in Mayuge district the day the minor’s body was recovered. He, however, the prosecution witnesses told the court that they saw him that day running away from the scene together with his wife.
Court later established that Buyinza took off after the brutal incident and did not participate in the burial of his son or reported the matter to the police. Buyinza’s former landlord, Gertrude Nalubega told the court that the accused persons used to mistreat the child. In her judgement, Justice Mutonyi found the accused guilty.
“The defense raised by the accused has not weakened or destroyed the inference of guilt. His conduct after the murder was not the conduct of a grieving father. … I am convinced that the circumstantial evidence of his disappearance from the village only to be arrested by police in October 2017, is sufficient proof of his participation in the murder of his own child,” Justice Mutonyi noted.
Buyinza’s lawyer, Salim appealed to the judge to consider giving his client a lenient sentence since he needs to take care of four other children, take good care of himself since he is living with HIV/Aids and the fact that he was tortured by police.
However, the prosecution led by George Mugira asked the judge to at least sentence the accused to about 50 years in prison since he decided to waste the court’s time well knowing that he committed the crime. Justice Mutonyi directed Luzira prison to avail her a copy of the report they recorded before admitting Buyinza to verify his claims of torture and operation on April 23. She scheduled April 21 to deliver her sentence.