Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

Go to Database Search Page

Go to  Database Index Page

Luvinia Balamu

 

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

2005

Year Convicted:

2007

Year Cleared:

2011

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Uganda

County or Region of Crime:

Pallisa District

City of Crime:

Bulalaka

Result:

Not Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Luvinia Balamu and his sons Gasta Mwanawabene, Patrick Mutomuto, and Yoswa Musenero were were wrongly convicted on August 22, 2007 of murdering their relative Karim Dongo of the Pallisa District in Uganda on October 28, 2005. The prosecution's narrative was that the four killed Dongo with sticks and cut him with pangas in a land dispute. After their convictions following a bench trial all four defendants were sentenced to death. In July 2011 a three-judge panel of the Uganda Court of Appeal reversed the convictions and sentences on the basis of bias by the trial judge, and ordered a new trial. Deputy Chief Justice Alice Mpagi-Bahigeine, and Justices Stella Arach-Amoko and Steven Kavuma unanimously ruled the trial judge was not in a position to objectively consider the defence case as he had already made up his mind they were guilty, stating: “In our judgement, this was an apparent bias, which means that the trial judge did not give the appellants a fair trial which is a fundamental right under Article 28 of the Constitution.”"

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

66

Age When Released:

70

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Court orders fresh trial for death row convicts, By Anthony Wesaka, Daily Monitor (Kampala, Uganda), July 24, 2011"

Information Location 1:

http://www.monitor.co.ug/meta/contact/-/691198/691184/-/119244sz/-/index.html

Information Source 2:

"4 family members survive death sentence, UG Pulse, July 20, 2011"

Information Location 2:

http://www.ugpulse.com/uganda-news/people/4-family-members-survive-death-sentence/20569.aspx

Information Source 3:

"Court orders fresh trial for death row convicts, By Anthony Wesaka, Daily Monitor (Uganda), July 24, 2011"

Information Location 3:

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/688334-1206366-a77hipz/index.html

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case:

Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

Hosted on forejustice.org and mirrored on justicedenied.org .