The High Court has convicted nine people over the 2018 kidnapping and murder of businesswoman Susan Magara, ruling that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that they jointly planned and executed the crime.
The convicts — Yusuf Lubega, Mahad Kisalita, Ismail Bukenya, Abubaker Kyewokya, Hassan Wasswa, Abbas Musa Buwembo, Hussein Kato Miiro, Hajjara Nakandi, and Muzamir Ssali — were found guilty of kidnapping Magara for ransom before later killing her.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Alex Mackay Ajiji said the accused acted in concert to abduct, detain, and ultimately murder Magara after holding her captive for nearly three weeks, despite receiving the ransom demanded from her family.
The court scheduled Tuesday for mitigation and sentencing.
Magara was abducted on February 7, 2018, in Lungujja, Kampala, while driving home. Court heard that she was speaking on the phone with her friend, Yusuf Muhindo, when he suddenly heard a struggle before the call abruptly disconnected.
Her Toyota RAV4 was later found abandoned at the scene with its engine still running and her mobile phones left inside, evidence the court said clearly indicated that she had been forcibly taken.
The kidnappers later contacted Magara’s family and initially demanded Shs5.5 billion (about US$1.5 million) before reducing the ransom to Shs700 million (about US$200,000).
Although her father, John Magara, paid the Shs700 million ransom, the kidnappers failed to release her.
During the trial, the court heard that the kidnappers severed two of Magara’s fingers and sent them to her family together with a flash drive containing a video in which she pleaded for her life, in an attempt to pressure the family into paying the ransom.
Forensic experts testified that the fingers belonged to Magara and confirmed that she was alive when they were amputated.
Her body was discovered on February 27, 2018, at Kitiko-Birongo along the Entebbe Expressway. A postmortem examination established that she died from strangulation.
The prosecution presented 46 witnesses and more than 80 exhibits, including DNA evidence, telephone records, financial documents, and forensic reports. The evidence established communication links among the accused and placed some of them at locations connected to the kidnapping and murder.
The court also heard that some of the accused led investigators to locations where Magara had been held and where her body was dumped, while others acquired valuable property shortly after the ransom was paid.
The accused denied all the charges, arguing that the evidence against them was insufficient and that other suspects connected to the crime remained at large.
However, Justice Ajiji dismissed the defence, ruling that the prosecution had successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused jointly orchestrated Magara’s kidnapping, demanded ransom from her family, and ultimately murdered her to prevent her from identifying them.
