Mathew Kanyamunyu has Friday, April 12, 2024 been released from Luzira Upper Prison after completion of his sentence of 3 years and 5 months in prison for the 2016 shooting of social work and child rights activist Kenneth Akena.
Kanyamunyu pleaded guilty to the charge and his murder charge was reduced to manslaughter.
He was sentenced to 5 years and one month in prison on November 11, 2020.
His girlfriend and co-accused Cynthia Munwangari was acquitted of all charges.
Kanyamunyu was first arrested in 2016 as a suspect in Akena’s murder.
Mathew Kanyamunyu (C) at the High Court in Kampala
He is reported to have shot at Akena, who had come to him to apologise, having accidentally knocked his car in a parking lot in Lugogo, Kampala.
Akena died a few hours later after the incident at Norvic hospital where he had reportedly been taken by Kanyamunyu and his girlfriend for treatment.
The duo claimed they had taken Akena to the hospital as good samaritans.
However, the deceased is said to have disclosed that he was shot by the very people that took him to the hospital.
Two bullets were found in Akena’s stomach, according to the postmortem done on Akena’s body.
The then embattled Kanyamunyu, prior his sentence, went for a traditional ritual known as Mato Oput, an Acholi term to mean “to drink a bitter portion made from the leaves of the ‘oput’.
During the ceremony said to have been held at the Ker Kwaro Acholi (Acholi chiefdom), Kanyamunyu reportedly admitted to killing Akena and was asked to pay ten cows and three goats by the elders in Acholi.