A handcuffed Cpl. Rashid Odiga is led away after the sentence. PHOTO/Paul Watala
The court heard that on July 23, 2012 Odiga used his SMG riffle to gun down Tadeo Ogwang and Mudihire Kagame.
Court heard that on that fateful evening Odiga went to Ogwang and asked him for a pass out order (leave) to go home and check on his family but Ogwang who was on duty advised him to pick it the next morning, the decision that did not go well with Odiga.
Odiga reportedly went back to his unipot returned with a gun and insisted he wanted the leave but Ogwang did not release him.
Court heard that Ogwang told Odiga that since he had no money for transport at the time, he would wait until the next morning when he would get the pass out order so that he could be able to look for money for transport to go.
“Odiga did not hold it back but picked his gun, cocked it and answered by shooting Ogwang dead claiming that he had refused to give him a pass out order and that he had also demanded for a bribe of sh20, 000 before he would give him the leave,” Ndyanabo said.
“The gun shot forced other officers in the barracks to take cover while Kagame who had taken cover in his unipot also picked his gun and fired in the air to scare Odiga. He responded by firing several times into the unipot hitting Kagame dead,” Ndyanabo said.
Court heard that the accused fired 14 bullets into the unipot where Kagame and other officers had taken cover and this meant that he was determined to shoot anybody who came across him.
“After shooting Ogwang and Kagame dead, he took off and reported himself to Soroti Police station. He was detained and later handed over to UPDF court,” Ndyanabo said.
He said Odiga pleaded guilty of having killed Ogwang but did not plead guilty of killing Kagame.
“My intention was to kill Ogwang for demanding for a bribe before he would give me a pass out order but I did not intend to kill Kagame,” Odiga told court.
Ndyanabo said that according to witnesses it was evident and proved beyond reasonable doubt that Odiga intended to kill because there was time for the accuser to report the matter of demanding for a bribe to other high authorities.
“This court rejects the evidence that Odiga was asked to pay a bribe and provoked that resulted into the murder of two officers. These are total lies intended to waste court’s time. So court finds no merit in the defence given and the credible three witnesses who are pinning Odiga were eye witnesses who saw officers die of bullet wounds,” Ndyanabo ruled.
He advised the accused to appeal against the ruling within 14 days if he so wished
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