Amisom officer acquitted of negligent death charge

The Army Court has acquitted Lt Col. Samson Nabeeta, the former deputy Civil Military Cooperation officer under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), over a negligent death charge.
Nabeeta was on Tuesday acquitted of negligent homicide in the death of Private Kabila Okot Okoya. Okoya was knocked dead by a car while moving to his fighting position to counter attack the Alshabab.

The insurgents had attacked a Uganda Contingent base camp in Mogadishu, Somalia during end of year celebrations on January 1, 2014.

The military panel led by Maj.Gen Levi Karuhnaga ruled that prosecution has failed to prove that the conduct of the accused amounted to a rash and negligent act.

Karuhanga further ruled that prosecution failed beyond reasonable doubt to prove that the accused drove the vehicle that knocked and killed Okoya at base camp. Nabeeta cried tears of joy after the chairman ruled in his favour.

“Prosecution has failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. I therefore acquit the accused and set him free at liberty unless held on other lawful charges,” Karuhnaga ruled.

Prosecution had claimed that Nabeeta, on January 1, 2014 at around 0130hrs, while at the Uganda Contingent base camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, negligently drove a Toyota 4Runner and knocked dead Okoya.

Karuhnaga also acquitted the accused on grounds that prosecution evidence was marred with contradictions.

“There were contradictions with regard to the time the incident occurred. PW1 testified that the accident was caused by a person driving a 4Runner vehicle around 0230hrs while the charge sheet stated the time of the accident to be 0130hrs. This raises issues as to the identity of the accident and its times,” he noted.

Nabeeta would have faced up to seven years in Makindye Military headquarter cells if convicted in the death of Okoya.

Nabeeta had spent one year in detention in Somalia without trial, but was later transferred to Makindye Military Headquarters cell to face trial at the General Court Martial. He was represented by Maj. Ronald Iduuli.

In his ruling, Karuhnaga ruled out rash driving or high speed, saying if the vehicle had knocked the barriers on high speed, it would have been more damaging than it was. He also noted that prosecution did not call any guards at the barriers to testify on the conduct of the driver.

The court also established that for the period between the accident and the recovery of the vehicle in the parking yard, the vehicle was defacto under the possession and control of the accused.

According to the postmortem report, the deceased suffered blunt force trauma on the head and abdomen, leading to death.

The court heard that the vehicle was found parked in the accused residence with blood stained broken glasses and head lamps.

New V