While acknowledging the brutality of the crime and expressing sympathy to Magara’s family, the defence argued that many of the convicts were family breadwinners whose imprisonment would negatively affect their dependants.
The High Court has sentenced two people to death and seven others to life imprisonment for their roles in the 2018 kidnapping and murder of businesswoman Susan Magara, bringing to a close one of Uganda’s most notorious kidnap-for-ransom cases.
Justice Alex Mackay Ajiiji sentenced Hajara Nakandi and Musa Abaas Buwembo to death after finding them among those responsible for the brutal crime. The remaining seven convicts were each handed life imprisonment.
In addition to the prison sentences, the court ordered that land and motor vehicles believed to have been purchased using the ransom money be confiscated, sold and the proceeds returned to Magara’s family.
Justice Ajiiji said the decision was meant to ensure that none of the convicts would continue to benefit from assets acquired through the crime.
According to evidence presented in court, Buwembo played a central role in the torture and killing of Magara. He was accused of severing two of her fingers, which were later sent to her family as proof that she was being held captive while kidnappers demanded ransom. He was also found to have participated in her murder by injecting her with a substance before suffocating her with a plastic bag.
The sentences followed submissions from prosecutors, defence lawyers and members of Magara’s family during the sentencing hearing.
The prosecution urged the court to impose the maximum penalty, describing the kidnapping as a carefully orchestrated criminal enterprise motivated purely by financial gain.
State Attorney Joseph Kyomuhendo told court that the group abducted Magara in Kampala, held her for nearly three weeks and eventually killed her despite receiving a ransom payment of $200,000 (about sh700m at the time).
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He identified Yusuf Lubega as the alleged mastermind behind the operation, saying he coordinated the plot together with Lugoloobi, including conducting surveillance on Magara before she was kidnapped.
The prosecution argued that the accused repeatedly chose to continue with their plan even when they had opportunities to abandon it, adding that they later invested the ransom money in property, including land and vehicles. It therefore asked the court to confiscate those assets and compensate Magara’s family.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Magara’s aunt, Flora Magara, told court that the pain of losing her niece remains overwhelming. She appealed for the death penalty, saying the family had never recovered from the tragedy.
Court heard that Magara was kidnapped on February 7, 2018, in Mengo, Kampala, and kept in captivity for 20 days. During that period, her captors cut off two of her fingers and delivered them to her relatives together with a flash drive containing footage of the mutilation in an effort to pressure the family into paying the ransom.
The prosecution said she was later injected with ketamine, suffocated with a plastic bag and her body abandoned in Kigo, Wakiso District.
Defence lawyer Richard Kumbuga appealed for a lighter sentence, arguing that the convicts were first-time offenders and that the court should distinguish between the individual roles played by each accused person.
While acknowledging the brutality of the crime and expressing sympathy to Magara’s family, the defence argued that many of the convicts were family breadwinners whose imprisonment would negatively affect their dependants.
The nine convicts had earlier been found guilty of kidnapping with intent to demand ransom and the consequent murder of Susan Magara after the court ruled that the prosecution had proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The killing of Susan Magara in 2018 shocked the nation and remains one of Uganda’s most high-profile kidnapping cases, drawing widespread public attention and renewed calls for stronger action against organised criminal gangs.
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