Dr Mathew Kirabo has been ordered to spend 30 years in prison for the murder of his 19-year-old girlfriend, Desire Mirembe in July 2015.
Mukono High Court’s Justice Henry Kaweesa Isabirye on Tuesday considered that Kirabo is a first-time offender who should be given a chance to reform .
The Court has however deducted the one month and 7 days that Kirabo spent on remand. The judge ordered that he serves the remaining 29y ears l, 10 months and 23 days at Luzira prison.
Kirabo, a 32-year-old medical doctor, worked at Mulago Hospital’s emergency unit and Kawempe referral hospital during his five years on bail. At the time of her untimely death, Mirembe was a medical student at Makerere University.
Kirabo was convicted in absentia by Justice Henry Kaweesa Isabirye on May 30, 2022, for Mirembe’s murder after the court heard testimonies from 14 witnesses.
Before sentencing, Dr. Kirabo expressed his condolences to Mirembe’s family, describing her as a promising young woman whose life was cut short. He further expressed regret for being unable to mourn her due to his incarceration.
Kirabo stated that he had engaged private investigators to uncover the truth before maintaining his innocence.
Through his lawyer, Henry Kunya, Kirabo pleaded for leniency, requesting court not to impose the maximum penalty of death as sought by the prosecution, but rather grant him a chance to live and reform.
The court heard from the two prosecutors, Happiness Ayinebyona and Emily Ninsiima, who argued that Kirabo should be sentenced to death for his lack of remorse throughout the eight-year trial, his forgery of COVID-19 results to deceive the court into believing he was sick, his subsequent traditional wedding, and flight from the country.
“We don’t have any benefit as a family but at least we have come to the end of this journey and we pray that she has peace in eternal life. Justice has been served. I’m not God, so I cannot say he should be murdered too,” Mr. Emmanuel Musoke, the deceased’s father said on Tuesday.
He was arrested in Kenya by Interpol on September 12, 2023, and extradited to Uganda to complete the trial.
