In a joint operation, Ugandan and Kenyan law enforcement agencies (Interpol Police) successfully tracked down and arrested Mathew Kirabo, a fugitive convicted of the 2015 murder of his girlfriend, Desire Mirembe.
Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, made this announcement at the police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala, revealing that Kirabo was arrested in Kenya on September 12.
Kirabo’s conviction in absentia took place on May 30, 2022, at the Mukono High Court, presided over by Judge Henry Kaweesa. Court assessors had recommended a guilty verdict, and the judge intended to deliver the sentence once Kirabo was in custody.
“We wish to inform the public that a fugitive, Mathew Kirabo, wanted by the Mukono High Court and on the run for several years, was arrested by Interpol Kenya, who successfully identified him following a Red Notice from Interpol Uganda,” stated Enanga.
He further confirmed that the fugitive would be transferred to Interpol Uganda and subsequently handed over to the Mukono High Court.
Background
Desire Mirembe, a student at Makerere University Medical School, disappeared in July 2015 after leaving her hostel to meet her boyfriend, Kirabo. Her lifeless body was later discovered in a sugarcane plantation in Jinja on July 7, 2015. Initially, Kirabo had confessed to the murder, leading investigators to the crime scene.
He had reconstructed the events, explaining how he had strangled and fatally injured her with a surgical blade.
Kirabo faced murder charges at the Jinja Magistrates Court and was later granted bail in November 2016. The case was subsequently transferred to the Mukono High Court. In May 2021, Kirabo sought to retrieve his passport for travel to the US for further studies, which sparked public outrage. Col. Edith Nakalema’s intervention resulted in the trial’s resumption, but it experienced delays. Kirabo eventually skipped court in October, reportedly fleeing the country in November 2021, while an active arrest warrant remained in effect.