UGANDA. COUNTRY GETS TOUGH WITH GOAT THIEVES

it was reported that 25-year-old David Katushabe, from Uganda's Nakasongola district, had been sentenced to death for stealing a goat. Justice Vincent Kagaba sentenced Katushabe to death after he found him guilty of aggravated robbery due to his use of a machete during the theft. The prosecution said that on the night of November 23, 2003, Katushabe broke into an enclosure where Thomas Orech kept his goats. Katushabe stole a goat from the enclosure. The court heard that a noise from the goats' pen woke up Orech. He followed the direction the goat was taking, saw Katushabe in the bush and arrested him. Katushabe, however, hacked Orech's shoulder and fingers with the machete. He later threw the weapon into a bush. The court dismissed Katushabe's defence that Orech had fabricated the offence against him because of a grudge over land. The judge said Katushabe was in possession of the machete at the time of the robbery with intent to kill or disable whoever interfered with his actions.
"You are sentenced to suffer death as the only punishment for your offence," Justice Kagaba said.