UGANDA, Entebbe | Real Muloodi News | Entebbe Land Fraudster, Aron Sebagulu has been sentenced to eleven years and eleven months in prison for his involvement in land grabbing.
The 30-year-old is an alleged associate of suspected land grabber Charles Kyagaba, who is currently on remand at Kigo Prison on similar charges.
Entebbe Chief Magistrate, Stella Maris Amabillis, handed down the sentence on March 6, 2023, after Sebagulu was convicted on charges of criminal trespass, causing malicious damage, forgery, and uttering false documents.
State Attorney Janat Kitimba led the prosecution and successfully argued that Ssebaggulu committed the offenses on August 5th, 2022, at Bugiri-Bukasa in Katabi town council when he commandeered a grader with other suspects to clear Linda Luyiga’s land measuring one and a half acres.
Luyiga testified that she bought the land from Richard Bakojja in 2012, who was the complainant and the first witness against the convict.
Conversely, Ssebaggulu insisted that he bought the land from Ssekibaala Kasirye and presented a purchase agreement purportedly authored by Ms. Mujulizi Byabakama and Co Advocates written in Luganda. However, Ssekibaala denied ever selling land to Ssebaggulu, and the law firm denied ever authoring the document.
During the trial, some of the accused also turned into state witnesses and pinned Ssebaggulu for contracting them for the mission.
One such witnesses was James Kyeyune. After his arrest, Kyeyune, who was operating the grader to clear the disputed land, informed police that he had been hired by Ssebaggulu at Shillings 2 million to do the work and had received an advance of Shillings 1 million in cash. Kyeyune became the third prosecution witness.
Following the conviction, Ssebaggulu asked the court to be lenient to him, arguing that it was his first time committing the offense, he had siblings whose care he was shouldering, and that his assets and businesses would go to waste.
“I will not refuse court’s conviction, but I left a lot of responsibilities like my pregnant wife, siblings, and I am a first-time offender. I ask court for the punishment to be served concurrently and consider the time I have spent on remand,” he said.
However, State Attorney Kitimba asked the court to hand the convict a deterrent sentence since land grabbing had become rampant in the Entebbe area.
Magistrate Amabillis observed that throughout the trial, Ssebaggulu had not shown any remorse, smiling through and through, and had also wasted the court’s time. Therefore, she sentenced Ssebaggulu to eleven months in jail for criminal trespass, five years in jail for malicious damage, and three years each on counts of forgery and uttering false documents.
Amabillis noted that she expected Ssebaggulu to be a reformed person by the time he completes his sentence at Kigo prison. She also reminded Ssebaggulu of his right to appeal within fourteen days if he felt the sentence was unfair.
Last year, Entebbe RDC Ms. Jackline Kankunda cited land grabbing as one of the biggest problems fueling insecurity in the area and warned Local Council officials against aiding the fraudsters during a security meeting ahead of the Christmas and New Year season.
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