The High Court has sentenced Lugya Bbosa Tabula and Noah Lugya to death for the murder of former Ndiga clan leader Eng Daniel Lwomwa Bbosa, bringing to a close one of the most closely watched murder cases involving a Buganda clan leader.
Justice David Matovu handed down the maximum sentence, saying the circumstances surrounding the murder and the wider impact of the crime warranted the punishment.
The judge also used the case to condemn mob justice, warning that had members of the public killed the surviving suspect after the shooting, the police might never have uncovered the motive and people behind Bbosa’s murder.
Justice Matovu credited the police for arresting Noah Lugya and taking him for medical treatment after he survived the mob attack, saying this enabled investigators to establish the motive behind the killing.
The court found that the murder arose from a leadership dispute over the position of Mutaka Rwomwa, the head of the Ndiga clan.
Judge rejects plea for leniency
Justice Matovu said he had considered submissions by Richard Muhumuza, counsel for the convicts, who asked the court for a custodial sentence after the two pleaded guilty.
The judge, however, rejected the argument that the convicts were remorseful, saying their pleas came after overwhelming evidence had been gathered against them.
“I disagree with the submission of the learned counsel that these convicts are remorseful because they are now being forced to calm down because of overwhelming evidence that was gathered against them,” Justice Matovu said.
He said the manner in which the crime was planned demonstrated an intention to evade detection.
The court noted that the assailants used a motorcycle and a firearm whose serial numbers were not legible, which Justice Matovu said suggested an attempt to conceal their identities and evade the authorities after carrying out the murder.
The judge said the murder had consequences beyond Bbosa’s immediate family, affecting the Ndiga clan, the Kabaka, the Sabataka and the country.
“The actions of the convicts directly affected the family of the deceased, as they lost their father and husband. Those actions affected the entire Ndiga clan, Kabaka, the Sabataka and the people of Uganda, as we lost the engineer, senior citizen of this country, under clumsy circumstances,” he said.
Justice Matovu said the court had to send a strong message that planning and executing such crimes would attract the maximum punishment.
“I therefore agree with the counsel for the state that this is one of those cases where the maximum sentence has to be passed in order to send a signal to other Ugandans that plotting such crimes of this nature does not reward them,” he ruled.
“I therefore find that, given the motive behind this matter, and the various groups of people it affected, the pleas of leniency cannot be sustained, and I hereby pass the death sentence against Lugya Bbosa Tabula and Lugya Noah,” he added.
Widow asks for maximum sentence
Earlier, Gladys Bbosa, the widow of the former Ndiga clan leader, asked the court to impose the maximum sentence after the two convicts pleaded guilty.
Gladys told court that her husband was the family’s sole breadwinner and that his death had left the family struggling.
“I don’t sleep. My husband was the sole breadwinner for the family,” she said.
During mitigation, Tabula apologised to Gladys and the family, saying he regretted the shooting.
He also apologised to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II and President Yoweri Museveni.
“I made a mistake. I apologise to the Kabaka, President Yoweri Museveni and the late’s family. The gun killed one person,” he said.
Tabula also claimed that he did not initially intend to kill Bbosa but had been involved in a leadership dispute over the Ndiga clan.
He said he had attempted to seek the intervention of the Kabaka over the leadership dispute but failed.
Noah also asked for forgiveness and apologised to Bbosa’s family.
Leadership dispute
In August 2024, Tabula confessed to orchestrating the killing of Bbosa, saying he had hired the assailants as an act of vengeance linked to what he described as his ancestral inheritance.
He claimed that his father had been killed over the leadership of the Ndiga clan and said he wanted to reclaim what he considered his family’s rightful ownership of the Luwomwa.
“I do not regret hiring two killers, Serunkuma and Noah Lugya. I know it is wrong to murder, but I was securing my ancestors’ rightful ownership of the Luwomwa,” Tabula said at Muwanga II Court.
Tabula was charged alongside other suspects, including Noah Lugya, Harriet Nakabale Nakiguli, Ezra Mayanja Ezra and Joseph Nakabale.
Bbosa was shot dead on February 25, 2024, as he approached his residence in Kikandwa Zone, Lungujja Parish, Lubaga Division.
The assailants, who were riding on a motorcycle, opened fire at his vehicle, registration number UAH 637X, killing him instantly.
A resident intervened by knocking down the attackers’ motorcycle and alerting the community.
Residents then mobilised and confronted the assailants. One of the attackers was killed in the ensuing mob attack, while another, identified as Noah Lugya, survived and was arrested after being taken for treatment.
Police subsequently recovered the firearm allegedly used in the murder and the motorcycle, registration number UEX 754E, which the assailants reportedly used during the attack.
