A trailer driver identified as Gonzaga Mugalula has been remanded to Luzira Prison on charges of causing death by reckless driving.
Mugalula was arraigned before the City Hall Court Grade One Magistrate Edgar Karekire on Friday evening.
The court heard that on October 28, 2022, while, along the Ntinda-Nakawa Road in Kampala District, Mugalula recklessly reversed his trailer registration number UAZ 822K Scania Trailer and caused the death of Belinda Birungi who was a passenger on a motorcycle registration number UES 772D. Birungi was the daughter of State Minister for Lands, Sam Mayanja.
However, Mugalula a resident of Namagoma in Wakiso District denied the charges and was sent on remand until April 6, 2023, when he will be brought back to court to apply for bail.
Birungi, 23, was knocked by a trailer while riding on a boda boda on Stretcher road, Ntinda, Kampala.
She died the next morning from China-Uganda Friendship Hospital, Naguru.
Birungi was a graduate of Uganda Christian University (UCU) having received her Bachelor of Arts in Industrial and Fine Art in July. She was heading to the United States for her master’s degree in a few months to come.
According to the Traffic and Road Safety Act of 2020, as Amended, a person found guilty of causing death while driving a motor vehicle, trailer or engineering plant recklessly is liable to an imprisonment term not exceeding 10 years.
According to the Annual Crime Report 2022 which was released a month ago, the country registered 20,394 cases of road accidents in 2022 compared to 17,443 registered in 2021. The Police said that out of every 100 crashes, 22 people died while 61 per cent of all accidents were as a result of reckless driving, the police said.
