Kampala businessman Matthew Kanyamunyu has today, 12th April 2024 been released from prison after serving his sentence for shooting dead child rights activist Kenneth Akena in 2016.
Kanyamunyu was 2020 sentenced to five years in Prison for manslaughter, which is unintentionally killed social worker Kenneth Akena in 2016.
Kanyamunyu’s murder charge was reduced to manslaughter by the Director of Public Prosecution after a plea bargaining session held at the High Court criminal division in Kampala.
Consequently, Kanyamunyu pleaded guilty to the lesser case of manslaughter.
Justice Stephen Mubiru ruled that since Kanyamunyu was a first-time offender and also took the victim to the hospital, he wouldn’t get a life sentence but the court has accepted his bargain of six years imprisonment. Mubiru said that the court reduced the sentence by 11 months, meaning he was to serve 5 years.
Kanyamunyu who was facing murder charges alongside his girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari, also went for a traditional ritual known as Mato Oput prior to the court hearing.
In this ceremony held at the Ker Kwaro Acholi (Acholi Chiefdom), Kanyamunyu reportedly admitted to killing the deceased and was asked to pay ten cows and three goats by the elders in Acholi.
The DPP also withdrew murder charges against Kanyamunyu’s girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari.
