The Kabale Chief Magistrate Court on Tuesday ordered the deportation of a 58-year-old Rwandan national over illegal entry into Uganda without travel documents.
The court that was presided over by Kabale Grade I Magistrate Julius Mutabazi heard from the prosecution led by Kabale State Attorney Julie Najjunju that on June 10, 2023, Francis Nzeyimana, while at Garage Street in Kabale Municipality, was arrested over possession of two stolen phones belonging to Emmy Mutabazi.
The prosecution also told the court that Nzeyimana was also found unlawfully in Uganda on June 10, 2023, contrary to the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Act, Cap. 53(1) and 66(2).
When he appeared in court on June 15, 2023, for the two counts of possession of stolen property and illegal entry in Uganda, he pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of stolen property but pleaded not guilty to illegal entry. He was then sentenced to 7 months in prison in Ndorwa government prison.
Nzeyimana, who is a resident of Byumba Kicumbi in Rwanda, appeared on Tuesday before His worship, Julius Mutabazi, the Kabale Grade I magistrate. He changed his plea, pleaded guilty to the charge of illegal entry, and asked the court that he be given a life sentence.
While sobbing with tears flowing, the 58-year-old Nzeyimana, speaking in Kinyarwanda through an interpreter, asked the court that he be forgiven for entering the country without documents, saying that he had them but they were stolen from him and that since the time he has been in prison, he is so remorseful and will not do it again.
Julie Najjunju, the state attorney, told the court that Nzeyimana is already a convict in the case of possession of stolen property, having been sentenced on June 15, 2023, after he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 7 months in prison. She asked the court, adding to the sentence he is serving, that he be deported back to Rwanda after serving the 7-month sentence for possession of stolen property.
His worship Mutabazi, while delivering his judgment, said that Nzeyimana is convicted as charged on his own plea of guilty. Having already served his sentence of 7 months for the earlier conviction of possession of stolen property, he ordered that after serving the 7 months he must be deported back to Rwanda.
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