Like a common saying goes “wonders never cease”, indeed they will never cease to happen. Boda Boda 2010 boss, Kitata is a free man.
Yesterday the country was filled with surprise and shock as many have been left in a daze.
And what has caused this to the many, was former Boda Boda 2010 patron Abdullah Kitatta getting out of jail sooner than was earlier expected.
On Friday 7th July 2020, the Appellant Court Martial reduced Kitata’s sentence by seven years, according to a judgement delivered by a panel sitting in Makindye in Kampala on Friday.
It should be remembered that last year, Kitatta and his body guard Sowali Ngobi were convicted of illegal possession of firearms and handed a 10-year jail term, which they queried as being harsh, given the fact that they had even spent a lot of time on remand, and that the maximum punishment made it seem like they were capital offenders or hard core criminals something they deny.
Civilian Advocate Elly Turyamubona chaired a six-member panel to give their final verdict on the appeal, filed by the convicts’ lawyers Isaac Jjuko and Abdullah Kiwanuka, against the ruling, arguing that it was based on weak evidence since prosecution witnesses had contradicted each other.
Consequently, the appellant court martial slashed the sentence to three years, then went ahead and deducted the time the duo had spent on remand. Court ruled that Kitatta and Ngobi should be set free after they have served one year, eight months and six days in jail starting yesterday.
Counsel Abdullah Kiwanuka who represented Kitata and his body guard told reporters that the convicts were “happy with the decision to reduce their sentences” but their legal team would “analyze the verdict and see if they can further challenge it to have the criminal record expunged from the court.”
