Justice Elizabeth Ibanda has set November 25 as the date for ruling on the murder of Fred Walugembe, former Rakai District Records Officer. On Monday, Justice Ibanda closed the trial of three suspects connected to the murder. They are Josephine Nakabugo, Walugembe’s widows and two casual laborers John Habyalimaana and Francis Kwashaho. Walugembe is suspected to have been killed in a ritual murder in 2009.
The suspects were arrested days after Walugembe’s body was found dumped in a bush near Rakai Nursing school.
Police also recovered a machete believed to have been used in the murder and also discovered a grave like pit and blood stained clothes belonging to the deceased in Nakabugo’s house. On Monday, Justice Ibanda told court that she has finished compiling her ruling but wants to listen to the court assessors before she delivers her ruling.
She therefore asked the court assessors to present their finding on Tuesday morning. Both Kwashaho and Habyalimaana pleaded guilty to the murder saying that they were hired by Nakabugo to kill her husband because of infidelity. She allegedly told them that her husband was involved in an extra marital affair with their maid Harriet Nakyanzi, whom he had turned into his wife.
But Josephine Nakabugo pleaded not guilty to the charges. Nakabugo claims that by the time they found the body of her deceased husband he had spent three days away from home.
