There was joy and relief when Mathiew Kirabo the murderer of Desire Mirembe was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Kirabo was sentenced today at Mukono High Court that was presided over by Justice Henry Kaweesa. Mathiew Kirabo who was a medical student at Mulago Hospital gruesomely murdered his then girl friend, also a medical student at Makerere University a one Desire Mirembe and dumped her body in a sugar cane plantation in Buikwe District in 2016.
Since then the family of Desire Mirembe had been running up and down in court seeking for justice until July 2022 when Mathiew Kirabo was sentenced in absensia. Kirabo had since been given bail which enabled him to escape the country and was a fugitive who was being looked for by Interpol until he was found hiding in Kenya where he was found and arrested in September 2023 and remanded to Luzira pending his sentence.
Kirabo drove his then girlfriend from her hostel near Makerere University campus and took her to Buikwe where she was gruesomely murdered. He confessed to police how he killed Desire and his confession was recorded on video which was played in court. However he later denied his own confession which was too late.
Human rights defender and businessman Frank Gashumba was the lead person in fighting for justice for the family of Desire Mirembe and he was all over the media talking about this issue which made it a national concern. At one point he questioned how such a murderer would be given bail and later court give him his passport yet he had confessed to have killed Desire. Many Ugandans and family members were happy that finally justice had prevailed and Mathiew Kirabo will have to spend the next 30 years in prison
