KAMPALA — The High Court has ordered the confiscation and sale of assets purchased with ransom money paid during the abduction of businesswoman Susan Magara, as it sentenced two of the nine convicts in the case to death and the remaining seven to life imprisonment.
Justice Alex Mackay Ajiiji ruled that land and motor vehicles allegedly acquired using the ransom proceeds be sold, with the money transferred to Magara’s family to ensure the offenders do not profit from the crime.
“This is to ensure that the convicts do not in any way enjoy the proceeds of their callous crime,” Justice Ajiiji said while delivering the sentence.
Those sentenced to death are Hajara Nakandi and Musa Abaas Buwembo, while the other seven convicts will serve life imprisonment for their roles in one of Uganda’s most notorious kidnap-for-ransom cases.
Court heard that Buwembo was responsible for cutting off Magara’s fingers, which were delivered to her family as proof that she was being held captive during ransom negotiations. He was also found to have injected her with a substance before suffocating her using a plastic bag, locally known as a kaveera.
The sentences followed submissions from both the prosecution and defence, as well as statements from members of Magara’s family on the appropriate punishment for the convicts.
State Attorney Joseph Kyomuhendo urged the court to impose the maximum sentence, describing the crime as a carefully planned and ruthless operation motivated by financial gain.
He told the court that Magara was abducted, tortured and eventually killed despite her family paying a ransom of 200,000 US dollars, equivalent to about Shs700 million at the time.
According to the prosecution, Yusuf Lubega masterminded and coordinated the kidnapping together with Lugoloobi, who helped conduct surveillance on Magara before her abduction. Prosecutors argued that the group had several chances to abandon the plan but instead continued with the crime even after receiving the ransom.
The prosecution further submitted that the convicts used the ransom money to purchase land and vehicles and asked the court to confiscate those properties and return the proceeds to Magara’s family.
Speaking before sentencing, Magara’s aunt, Flora Magara, appealed for the death penalty, saying the family continues to endure the pain of losing their loved one.
“My Lord, the late Susan Magara was my niece. She was murdered young, she was brutally murdered. As a family we still grieve. We are suffering, my brother John Magara and wife Immaculate Magara,” she told the court.
“I pray this honourable court passes the sentence of death penalty,” she added.
The prosecution told court that Magara was abducted in Mengo, Kampala, on February 7, 2018, and held captive for 20 days before she was killed on February 27.
During her captivity, the kidnappers severed two of her fingers and sent them to her family together with a flash drive containing footage of the act as they demanded payment of the ransom.
She was later allegedly injected with ketamine, suffocated and her body dumped in Kigo, Wakiso District.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Richard Kumbuga asked the court to exercise leniency, arguing that the convicts were first-time offenders and that each individual’s role should be considered during sentencing.
The defence expressed sympathy to Magara’s family, acknowledging the pain and torture she suffered, while also arguing that most of the convicts were family breadwinners whose imprisonment would adversely affect their dependants.
The nine were convicted of kidnapping with intent to obtain a ransom and the consequential murder of Susan Magara after the court found that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Magara’s killing, which stunned the country in 2018, remains one of Uganda’s most high-profile kidnap-for-ransom cases.
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