Security forces have arrested Dr. Mathew Kirabo who was in absentia convicted of killing her girlfriend Desire Mirembe.
Confirmed sources have revealed that Kirabo has been arrested from Kenya where he has been hiding for some time since 2021.
In May 2022, the High Court Judge, Henry Kaweesa Isabirye in Kirabo’s absentia convicted him of murdering his then girlfriend, Desire Mirembe during the time when they were both at Makerere University doing Bachelors of Medicine in 2015.
Judge Kaweesa said he had found that the circumstantial evidence produced before him was well collaborated hence convicting Kirabo of killing Mirembe.
He however referred the passing of the sentence until the convict would be arrested.
Kirabo was reported to have skipped court bail for a number of court hearings, which was one of the bail terms.
Court therefore issued a warrant of arrest for him but police and other security forces took long without having him arrested hence prompting the Judge to pass the conviction.
Justice Kaweesa said that the evidence produced by the prosecution team showed that for a fact, it was a love story that went sour.
“These two lovebirds developed relationship challenges and the girl sought to cancel the love bid.
In the process they agreed to meet and resolve these differences. According to the evidence, this never came to pass,” Kaweesa read.
He added: “The last time the two met was on the fateful night. The events that followed this meeting led to the death of Mirembe.”
He said that the mystery of what happened following their (Kirabo and Mirembe) meeting was revealed by the evidence produced on record.
Kaweesa said that the evidence to him as offered by prosecution had no other possible explanation or hypothesis besides that being offered by prosecution that it is Kirabo who killed Mirembe.
“In that conclusion, I therefore find that prosecution has proved their case beyond reasonable doubt that it is Kirabo who participated in this case of murder. I therefore find him guilty of this charge and I do convict him,” he said.
Court heard that between the night of 10th and 11th July 2015, Kirabo murdered Mirembe who was a first year medical student at Makerere University and dumped her body in a sugar cane plantation in Lugazi Municipality. Kirabo was also a student at Makerere University.
Prosecution produced 15 witnesses in the case and relied on exhibits of a video recording by police where Kirabo incriminated himself, as the video showed him confessing to the murder of his deceased girlfriend Mirembe.
In the video Kirabo was also seen leading a team of detectives to the scene of crime to demonstrate how he murdered his girlfriend.
The prosecution also produced a charge and caution statement that Kirabo made at Kampala Police Station where he still confessed to the crime, although the defense tried to object the statement from being received on grounds that it was got after torturing their client.
However, the judge as well also discovered that the statement was made when Kirabo was fully aware of the consequences of his statement and was not at all coerced.
Meanwhile the defense tried to weaken the case saying that the evidence brought by the state does not in any way incriminate their client.
Among the witnesses the prosecution produced, four of them confirmed seeing Kirabo at Deliverance Church in Makerere on that night at around midnight.
The State Attorney in this case, Happiness Ainebyona prayed to court to also present this case’s sentence in Kirabo’s absence citing the case of Uganda Vs Kabafunzaki where he was sentenced in absence.
However, the judge ruled that out saying he had already issued a warrant of arrest for Kirabo which had not been executed yet. He ordered that they find Kirabo, arrest him and produce him for sentencing.
Mirembe’s father, Emmanuel Musoke expressed his gratitude after finding Kirabo guilty of murdering his daughter.
“Thank God that after seven years, we have finally received the judgment after going through a lot of obstacles. I am only dismayed that due to the loopholes expressed in the case, Kirabo was given a leeway to escape and he is finally nowhere to be seen,”Musoke said in 2022.
He therefore appealed to the general public to help him and the deceased to get justice by finding Kirabo so that he is sentenced and serve the punishment.
Case background
Desire Mirembe was murdered in July 2015. Her then-boyfriend Matthew Kirabo reportedly confessed to the murder. He was then charged before Jinja Chief Magistrates Court with murder and remanded to prison. On November 24, 2016, he successfully applied for bail to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Medicine at Makerere University.
The case later moved to Mukono High Court on the instructions of the then Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine after the state complained that the crime was committed under the jurisdiction of Mukono. In May 2021, the Principal Judge Dr. Flavian Zeija promised to fast-track the hearing of the matter following complaints from the deceased’s family.
Kirabo since then skipped bail and to date, he has been at large.