Lira Man, 30, jailed for 40 years for killing wife

This is the first high-profile judgment made by the Lira High Court since year 2022 started 39 days ago.

Lira – February 8, 2022: Lira High Court has sentenced a 30-year-old man after being found guilty of killing his wife. He is to serve his country from jail for 40 years.

Calvin Alele was convicted by the Lira High Court Judge Justice Duncan Gaswaga on Monday, February 7, 2022.

The Court found him guilty of killing his wife Scovia Amule. The deceased was found dead in Kabalega market in Dokolo district in 2019.

However, the now convict did not plead guilty of the offense by himself on Monday when the judgment was made.

Court heard that the accused fell in love with the deceased in 2016 when she was a bursar at Leo Atubo College and that the accused was a student.

They subsequently started cohabiting as husband and wife and resided in various places like Uhuru Bar, Obanga Pewany (Lumumba), and Ober Kampala all in Lira City.

In 2017 when the convict realized that the deceased had two grown-up children, a misunderstanding ensued between them although they continued with their “fairly romantic cohabiting”.

One of the affidavits placed before the Court was that on 27 December 2019, Amule’s younger sister informed their brother that the deceased had been missing since December 18 2019 and her whereabouts were not known.

Her disappearance was reported to the LC1 and later to the police.

One of the witnesses and a neighbor had earlier told the court that investigations into the matter revealed that on the fateful date, the deceased went with the accused to pass time and the accused had carried her (on the deceased’s motorcycle) but they never returned that night.

After some time, the deceased’s body was found in Kabalega market and police circulated information for people to go and view the body in order to identify her.

Jonathan Okello, State Prosecutor told Court that although the accused did not have any criminal record, he should be jailed for 45 years since he intended to cause the death of a hardworking woman who was struggling to raise her children and the family.

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However, his defense Lawyer Quirinos Oyugi Onono requested the Court to give the accused leniency, averring that he is still a young man who had just completed school.

“…having him spend the 45 years in prison would ruin his future of being someone important in life,” defense Lawyer told Court.

Before his conviction, Alele pleaded for leniency saying, “I have ulcers and my grandmother and daughter are all under my care.”

In his judgment, Justice Duncan Gaswaga said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubts that Alele was behind the murder of his wife.

“I have considered all that has been said. This is a very unfortunate incident because the deceased was burnt beyond.

The punishment is to help the convict reform so that by the time he is free he can be a good person in the community,” Justice Duncan Gaswaga read his judgment.

“I shall impose a sentence of 40 years. The 2 years and more than 10 months you spent on remand shall be deducted. The properties of the deceased shall also be handed back to the family and you can as well make an appeal through the Court of Appeal,” he ruled.