The High Court has sentenced to death Lugya Bbosa Tabula and Noah Lugya alias Fake over the murder of former Ndiga clan leader Daniel Lwomwa Bbosa in 2024.
The court presided over by Justice David Matovu sentenced the duo, after convicted them of the of murder contrary to sections 171 and 172 of the Penal Code Act, after they pleaded guilty to the murder of Bbosa, who was shot dead on February 24, 2024, at Kikandwa Village in Lungujja.
During sentencing, Justice Matovu cautioned the public against carrying out acts of mob justice noting that if Noah had been killed as they did Sserunkuma, it would have made arresting of suspects hard in the case.
He also disagreed with the defence lawyers that the accused were remorseful over their act, noting that they were only calmed down by the volume of evidence against them.
“They are now being forced to calm down because of the overwhelming nature of evidence that was gathered against them. Otherwise, they were determined to eliminate the engineer Bbosa Daniel, and leave the entire Ugandan government machinery, guessing as to who had committed such a heinous crime” he said.
He added. “And we would also have been guessing what the motive would have been behind the case. I therefore agree with the counsel for the state, that this is one of those cases, ……. where a maximum sentence has to be passed in order to send a signal to other Ugandans that plotting heinous crimes of this nature does not reward them and the state has got the machinery to investigate and get to the bottom of such cases”.
Justice Matovu noted that given the motive behind the murder, the various groups of people it affected, the pleas of leniency by the two convicts couldn’t be sustained by the court.
“I hereby pass the death sentence against A1 Lugya Bbosa Tabula alias Lugya, and A2 Lugya Noah alias Fake, who should be executed in a manner prescribed by the laws of Uganda” he said.
He further reminded them of their right to appeal against the sentence within a period of 14 days.
The court has fixed September 8th for the trial of the remaining three accused persons after they pleaded not guilty to Bbosa’s murder.
During hearing, prosecution led by Chief State Attorney Joseph Kyomuhendo and Senior State Attorney Marion BenBella told court that Eng. Bbosa was gunned down on February 25, 2024, at Kikandwa in Lungujja as he returned home from presiding over a clan function in Katosi.
He was traveling in his Toyota Prado alongside his wife, Gladys, and their house help when assailants on a motorcycle targeted his vehicle near his residence.
Following the shooting, local boda-boda riders pursued the fleeing assailants and intercepted them in Bulabega Zone
One of the alleged attackers, Enock Sserunkuma, alias Munaku, was killed by an angry mob. Lugya was rescued from the mob by security forces and rushed to Mulago Hospital for emergency treatment, with Police later on recovering an AK-47 rifle from a nearby compound
Tabula was arrested on 19 August 2024 in Kimelika-Namulonge, Busukuma, by operatives of the Directorate of Crime Intelligence.
Prior to Bbosa’s death, there had been a long-standing dispute within the clan, which had lasted over 480 years, resulting in the Buganda Cultural Court (Kisekwa) directing Bbosa to step down from leadership due to lineage discrepancies among the true descendants of the Ndiga Clan.
