Retired soldier, South Sudanese get five-year jail term over illegal firearm
Sentencing the duo, Gen. Mugabe ruled that the convicts readily pleaded guilty, were remorseful, family men, and that a sentence of five years imprisonment was appropriate on each count.
RAV/136478 Private (Rtd) Alex Malish (L) and Simon Mokili (R) in dock at the General Court Martial (GCM) at Makindye in Kampala as court accorded them a five-year jail sentence over illegally possessing a gun and one bullet. (Credit: Douglas Mubiru)
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A 48-year-old retired Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier is to spend the next five years in jail at Kitalya Prison after the General Court Martial (GCM) found him guilty of possessing a gun and one bullet.
RAV/136478 Private (Rtd) Alex Malish was on Monday, July 29, accorded the sentence by the court at Makindye in Kampala chaired by Brig. Gen. Robert Freeman Mugabe.
A farmer and resident of Nyabiri village in Koboko district, Malish was accorded the sentence alongside his co-convict Simon Mokili, 38, a bodaboda rider residing at Nyori village in South Sudan.
Sentencing the duo, Gen. Mugabe ruled that the convicts readily pleaded guilty, were remorseful, family men, and that a sentence of five years imprisonment was appropriate on each count.
“This court after deducting a period of one year and eight months spent on remand/lawful custody and four months for mitigating factors, hereby sentences each of you to three years imprisonment on count one and three years on count two. Sentences to run concurrently,” ruled Gen. Mugabe.
He advised the convicts of their constitutional right to appeal the sentence within 14 days if they were not satisfied with the court's decision.
Prior, the convicts through their lawyer Lt Resty Mutebi, had during mitigation invited the court to forgive them, saying they were married men with children, remorseful, ready to reform and breadwinners to their families.
The charge
The duo has been battling two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition contravening Sections 3 (1) (2) (a) of the Firearms Act, Cap 299 and attract a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment upon conviction.
Led by Lt Col Raphael Mugisha, Captain Ambroz Guma, and Captain Alex Rasto Mukhwana, prosecution asserted that on or around November 23, 2022, at 0030hrs while at Busia Town Council in Koboko district, Malish and Mokili were found in unlawful possession of a firearm to wit; AK47 riffle S/NO. ON8488, the said firearm being ordinarily a monopoly of the Defence Forces.
Prosecution further told the court that during the same day, place, and time, the duo unlawfully possessed one live round of SMG ammunition, a monopoly of the Defence Forces.