Two sentenced to 8 years in prison for killing six lions

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Utilities, Wildlife and Standards Court in Kampala has sentenced two men to serve a punishment of 8 years and seven months in jail for killing six climbing lions in the Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The two, Vincent Tumuhirwe, a farmer and Robert Ariyo, a boda boda rider who are both from Kanungu district, were on Thursday sentenced by the court presided over by the Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu following their conviction on five charges last week.

Three of the charges are: Entering a protected area without permission, hunting wild animals in a wildlife conservation area without permission, killing wild animals and protected wildlife species in a wildlife conservation area without permission.

Kamasanyu last week convicted the two men who are in their mid-40s, saying the prosecution adduced evidence from 13 witnesses who proved beyond reasonable doubt that between March 17th and 19th, 2021, they illegally entered Habugombwa Kob Mating Ground Ishasha Sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kanungu district,  hunted and killed six climbing lions and ten white vultures by poisoning.

The court heard that the evidence proved sufficiently that Ariyo and Tumuhirwe were found in possession of four heads of lions, fifteen legs of lions, one tail of a lion, and a three-liter jerrican of lion fats without a valid wildlife use right. The said illegal activities occurred in a radius of 5.4 kilometers inside the national park where the lions were found decomposing with some of their body parts missing in the protected area.

While sentencing them, Kamasanyu indicated that the crimes are rampant in this country, saying that in 2018 eleven lions were killed and their killers have not been found to date.

She added that it was terrible and gross for the two men to hunt and kill the innocent lions from a protected place where they are expected to be safe and most especially in a country like Uganda where it is known that lions are not edible.

Accordingly, she noted that the killing was not justifiable and the news about the incident was not only disturbing to Uganda but also to the world at large mostly to the tourists who have been contributing largely to the economy by visiting the park which is the only one in the country with lions.

Kamasanyu has further ruled that the pride of the lions was curtailed, having only one lioness left amidst four male lions saying it will be difficult for them to grow and multiply.

According to Kamasanyu, this kind of character shows how dangerous the convicts are and how they are most likely to be cruel to humans as well.

“I heard that you have children but because of your character, you have the high potential of raising murderers,” said Kamasanyu.

As such, she sentenced the convicts to five years in jail on the first four charges and handed them eight years, seven months on the fifth offense of killing wild animals and protected wildlife species in a conversation area without permission.

She said the sentences will be served concurrently.

Prior to settling for this sentence, the Chief Magistrate Kamasanyu had imposed a punishment of 10 years in jail but she deducted the time the convicts have spent on remand.

Last week, State Attorney Joan Keko asked for a maximum punishment of life imprisonment sentence saying that the lions which alone contributed hundreds of millions of shillings inform of tourist attraction were brutally and mercilessly killed.

On their part, the convicts had pleaded for a lenient sentence arguing that they are family men with children to look after and that they are first-time offenders, all of which the court has considered before it arrived at it’s decision.

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