Nsenga appeals against conviction for murdering husband, insists it was by accident

Kampala businesswoman Jackeline Uwera Nsenga has appealed against a 2014 court decision that convicted her with her husband, Juvenal Nsenga's murder.

Nsenga in an appeal to the court on Thursday maintained that the trial judge, Duncan Gaswaga erred in administering justice because the deceased died as a result of an accident and not a premeditated murder.

She also argues that “the dying man statement used to convict her didn't reveal intent or malice aforethought.”

While sentence Nsenga on September 23, 2014, presiding Judge Duncan Gaswaga ruled that based on the evidence presented before court Jackeline Nsenga could not have knocked her husband accidentally. According to the Judge, Prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accident which claimed Juvenal Nsenga's life was aforethought.

Court had heard that On January 10, 2013, accelerated vehicle Reg. No. UAL 933M which she was driving, rammed through the gate and knocked her late husband Juvenal who had come to open the gate for her. The car then dragged Nsenga for a considerable distance along the concrete pavement. He died moments later.

The prosecution relied on testimonies by engineers and by the Inspector of Vehicles- IOV to prove that there are no prior accidents caused by the Mark X vehicle model -suddenly accelerating on their own and that the Vehicle which Jacqueline Nsenga owned was in a good working state.

Additional evidence also indicated that the nature of the vehicle is such that it has obstacle sensors with which, brakes cannot move unless accelerated. The prosecution also wondered why a person entering their compound would bolt in at a speed of at least 41-61kilometres per hour, without intent to cause an accident.

During the court process, Saad Ndangiza, a close friend and business partner to Juvenal Nsenga testified saying the deceased had held his arm while on the sickbed at Paragon Hospital and told him his wife had caused his situation.

However, Nsenga claims that he judge erred in law when he relied on an equivocal out of court statement of the deceased to convict the Appellant.

“The learned judge erred in law when he shifted the burden of proof from the prosecution and placed it on the Appellant,” the appeal reads further.

Nsenga now wants the conviction by the High Court quashed and her 20-year jail sentence set aside.