A court in the United States has awarded the family of Ugandan activist Esther Nakajjigo, 25 US$ 10.5 million( about shs40billion) after she died from injuries caused by a falling unsecured metal gate that pierced through her car and severed her head, killed her instantly in 2020.
Nakajjigo’s budding career as a celebrated human rights activist a was cut short in 2020 while on a trip with her husband Lodovic Michaud to Utah’s Arches National Park when she was decapitated by a metal gate that swung into the couple’s car as they exited the park.
The family sued the US government for compensation.
Whereas in their suit, the family sought $140 million in damages over negligence by the national park, the ruling by Federal US judge, Bruce S. Jerkins in Salt City indicated that the court had awarded $9.5 million to Nakajiggo’s husband and $ 1 million to Nakajiggo’s parents – $700,000 to her mother and $350,000 to her father.
The federal judge described the case as unusual since neither the victim nor complainants were US citizens.
“The husband is a French citizen, employed in and a resident of the United States. The parents are citizens of Uganda, a poor and heavily populated African nation, formerly part of the British empire. The deceased, Esther Nakajjigo was a citizen of Uganda, but at the time of her death, a United States resident, newly married to Plaintiff Ludovic Michaud,” Jerkins said.
“What remained of her(Nakajjigo) in the front seat and floor of the car was gruesome and overwhelmingly shocking.”
