By Mulengera Reporters
Quarish Ssegirinya alias Yasiin Lubowa has for years been commanding a squad of rogues who specialize in vandalizing telecommunications equipment especially ATC-owned masts and towers across the country. And because of that, he has been convicted, sentenced and locked up at Luzira prison several times to the extent that available information indicates that he qualifies to call Luzira his second home.
He is so much used to being put on criminal trial to the extent that each time he is arraigned before the Magistrate at the Makindye-based Standards, Utilities & Wildlife Court, he casually chats with the presiding Magistrate. He can fearlessly indicate admission of guilt and declare readiness to enter a plea-bargaining deal with prosecution only to change his mind moments later.
At least this is what Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu, the Chief Magistrate for the Makindye Court, has endured and come to personally know about him. He has become so familiar and fearless that he will immediately begin chatting to her in Luganda the moment he takes the witness stand, as prosecution lawyers prepare their witness to implicate him.
He is a repeat offender, doing exactly the same crime (vandalization and stealing telecom masts and the relevant generator parts) having got sentenced to a two-year jail term in 2021, which he completed and came out of prison in May 2023 (it’s intriguing in May the following he was caught committing the same offence). He is a resident of Kibuye in Kampala’s Makindye Division and during day time he keeps around Kisekka market where he claims to be a mechanic and goes on vandalism and robbery missions at night. He is currently being prosecuted at the Makindye Utilities Court by a team of prosecutors from UCC who are led by Legal Affairs Head Dr. Abdul Salaam Waisswa.
He was caught vandalizing and stealing telecom masts and generator parts at American Tower Corporation (ATC)’s telecom towers located at Namakonkome hill near Matuga along Kampala-Bombo High way. This was past mid night on the morning of 12th May this very year. He had broken into the heavily fortified metalic shelter surrounding the masts and was specifically busy dismantling the generator several of whose parts have since been tendered in Court as exhibits.
He tried to resist arrest, after four of his accomplices fled with the vehicle and left him behind, and only got subdued and allowed to be carried to Matuga Police Station after one of the private security guards, who had unexpectedly raided the mast site, cocked his gun. Being a physically very muscular man, Lubowa tried to wrestle to the ground two of his arrestors but only gave in after the gun was cocked and pointed towards him. He was tied on ropes and he kept protesting while pleading with the gun-wielding security guard “Afande Tokuba [pleasse don’t shoot me].”
He is so crime-hardened and unrepentant that he even tried to create room for his escape by pretending to be directing his arrestors or captors to some deceptive place where he claimed his four accomplices were hiding. His plan was to escape and flee as his captors went to pick them up but they knew better and refused to fall for his trickery.
As his captors drove towards Matuga Police Station towards 4am on that fateful morning, Lubowa Ssegirinya put up a bold face and offered to bribe them with Shs2m so that they let him go and forge a story that he escaped from them. They flatly declined the money which he said he was ready to ring someone at his home to send via mobile money.
He was delivered to Matuga Police Station (which is nearest to the crime scene) before being transferred to Jinja Road Station from where he was processed by both Police and the prosecution team, paving way for his ongoing trial at Makindye.
Last month, the legally unrepresented accused person (he is representing himself) had contacted the prosecution team from Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) signaling readiness to plead guilty in return for lighter sentencing. And the UCC prosecutors came to Court ready for that only to be surprised when midway the proceedings, the man turned round saying he wasn’t guilty. Pleading guilty helps in a way that it qualifies the accused person to lighter sentencing but Lubowa Ssegirinya changed his mind that day, which the Magistrate explained was his right and it was okay.
This prompted the UCC prosecution team, led by Dr. Waisswa, to assure Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu that they were ready to make their case and produce overwhelming evidence against him. Waisswa says, being a repeat offender, Lubowa Ssegirinya faces a maximum of 10 years in prison which in the end will most likely be what the Magistrate will be handing him with since he has demonstrated extreme stubbornness and lack of remorse.
During the Friday session when he saw the two witnesses the prosecution had lined up (two gentlemen who were part of the patrol squad that arrested and delivered him to Matuga Police Station on the morning of 12th May 2024), Lubowa Ssegirinya playfully indicated to Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu he was scared and wanted to plead guilty.
As the Magistrate sought clarification and prepared to write down what he was saying, the 30-year-old Kisekka mechanic turned round saying he was ready for anything and wasn’t pleading guilty. This casualness and well demonstrated lack of remorse is dangerous and is something the accused person will end up regretting.
THE FRIDAY SESSION: 44-year-old Stanley Wabuge, the security manager at i-Engineering Company Ltd (which is contracted to handle the maintenance of all ATC masts and towers from Ham Centre Nakivubo all the way to covering Northern and North Western parts of Uganda) took to the stand on Friday and gave evidence for prosecution.
He explained how Lubowa Ssegirinya was nabbed during their routine patrol operation of the night of 11th May this very year. He explained how that night he travelled with colleagues (like Paul Eshaba, Brave Naijuka, Nicolas Khisa and one Dan) from Platinum and Swat which are two private security firms his employer (i-Engineering) sub contracted to help secure the ATC masts covering that entire stretch.
In graphic details, he explained to court how they left their motorcycles some distance away and walked onto the mast site on foot, which is how Lubowa Ssegirinya was caught unaware. He was caught red handed busy dismantling a generator and tried to flee only to hit himself on the metallic objects at the mast shelter’s entrance. That the harvested generator parts (like air cleaner holder, the radiator, generator fan & generator fan guard) had already been parked in a white sack by the four other Lubowa Ssegirinya accomplices who fled and continue to still be at large.
He recalled Lubowa Ssegirinya advising them to lower their voices as they arrested him so that his four accomplices, who had gone some short distance away to engage in some smoking to warm themselves, don’t hear them.
He told court how the accused person humbled himself and pretended to be remorseful before proceeding to identify and introduce himself to them as “Quarish Ssegirinya.” Wabuge, whose eloquent testimony scared Lubowa Ssegirinya to the extent that at some point came close to wetting his pants before the Magistrate, reminisced travelling back to the crime of scene (SOCOs) during the day (12th May) to have the entire crime scene documented.
That when they moved the suspect from Matuga to Jinja Road Police Station, which handles such investigations for the Utilities Court, Wabuge was shocked by what he was told by NETC Ltd’s Security Manager Patrick Ocen who previously had caught the same vandal red handed. That Ocen told him this same accused person had previously been caught during a similar routine patrol operation while vandalising telecom masts and other equipment.
Wabuge told the Magistrate that it was from Patrick Ocen that he established that the name Quarish Ssegirinya the accused person had told them was a mere alias. That his real names is Yasiin Lubowa under which he was prosecuted and sentenced to a jail term under a separate earlier trial during which Ocen was one of the complainants and key prosecution witnesses. The authorities at Jinja road were intrigued and sent for the suspect and on being delivered from the cell, the suspect looked Ocen in the eye and said this was mistaken identity as for him did not remember ever encountering Mr. Patrick Ocen before.
“Your Worship I would like to tell court that I have no doubt in my mind that we have the right person before court and he was evidently leading a large group of others because since his arrest in May, we have had unprecedented security for our mast sites. Such incidents were rampant but since his arrest, we haven’t had any such incident in that expansive service territory of mine that I described,” Mr. Wabuge told Court making it clear that Mr. Patrick Ocen had told him the same thing; to the effect that there is enhanced security for such telecom masts and other equipment (like generators which are used to power and keep such masts or towers operational) each time the same accused person (Lubowa Ssegirinya) is locked up and generally withdrawn from circulation.
Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu set Tuesday 15th July as the day hearing of the case will resume with more prosecution witnesses testifying and giving evidence against the accused person who subsequently will have the opportunity to defend himself once a prima farcie case is established to have been made out against him. During the Friday session, Lubowa Ssegirinya carried his note book and pen and kept writing down stuff while making it clear he was looking forward to cross-examining Mr. Wabuge and other prosecution witnesses. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
