Mathew Kirabo convicted over murder of girlfriend Desire Mirembe

MUKONO, UGANDA: Mukono High Court has convicted Mathew Kirabo of first-degree murder for killing his then-girlfriend, Desire Mirembe about seven years ago.

Judge Henry Kaweesa on Monday found Kirabo guilty of murdering Kirabo in 2015 relying on the advice from court assessors who said in their report, that all the evidence in place showed that the accused had masterminded the murder of Mirembe. Mwebesa however said the sentence will be made after Kirabo’s arrest, whose whereabouts are not known for now five years.

Desire Mirembe, a then 19-year-old Makerere University student was allegedly murdered by Kirabo and her body was dumped in a sugarcane plantation in Lugazi, Buikwe district where it was retrieved on July 11, 2015.

Kirabo later confessed to the gruesome act and was charged in the Jinja Magistrates Court with murder before being remanded at Nalufenya Prison. However, on November 24, 2016, he was granted an unprecedented bail and had been out of prison since.

Later, Kirabo’s murder case was moved to Mukono high court under the instruction of the then principal judge Yorokamu Bamwine after the state complained that the crime had been committed in the Mukono jurisdiction.

Last year in May, the high court in Mukono heard the prime suspect, Mathew Kirabo’s application in which he was seeking a return of his passport so that he could travel to the United States of America for further studies.

This prompted Mirembe’s family to mount pressure for a justice ruling for their fallen daughter, saying that if a date could be fixed to hear the suspect’s application, then they should also fix a date to hear the main case.

On October 6, the High Court in Mukono finally started hearing the case after 6 years.

On November 3, 2021, Kirabo absconded from court which caused the state to ask court to order his sureties to pay Shs 50 Million each, and the case then proceeded without the suspect.