The Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has sentenced to caution, a Technician Christopher Ssebirumbi attached to the Bank of Uganda for malicious damage to 31 Air Conditioners belonging to the Central Bank.
Ssebirumbi 48, on Wednesday, appeared before Grade One Magistrate Siena Owomugisha who charged him with one offense for which he pleaded guilty.
He told the Court that he has repaired the Central Bank elevators since 1997 but on May 7th, while he was doing repairs, he accidentally damaged the Air Conditioners.
Ssebirumbi who appeared composed then asked the Court to forgive him adding that he had never committed any crime before.
However, State Attorney Lydia Nakato asked the court to hand him a deterrent sentence to mitigate the unspecified loss occasioned by the Bank of Uganda in repairing the damaged Air conditioners.
In her ruling, Magistrate Owomugisha noted that Sebirumbi had no criminal motive and that the damage to the ACs was accidental since he has no such record for the 27 years he has worked with the Central Bank.
She accordingly sentenced Ssebirumbi to a caution and he shed tears.
Ssebirumbi survived a seven-year jail term by saving courts time in pleading guilty. A sentence to caution is not technically the same as a conviction, but it comes with consequences.
While you will not receive a prison sentence, cautions go on your criminal record and unconditional cautions may result in a fine and or require you to follow certain rules.
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