City Hall Court has sentenced businessman Bashir Bakora to five years in prison for breaking into the offices of VNG International (U) Ltd in Ntinda and stealing property worth more than Shs21 million.
Bakora was convicted of office breaking and theft after Senior Principal Grade One Magistrate Nicholas Aisu found that the prosecution had proved its case against him beyond reasonable doubt.
His two co-accused, David Moses Ogwang and Tonny Ongin, who were working as security guards with SGA Security, were acquitted after the court found there was insufficient evidence linking them to the break-in.
The offences were committed between January 18 and 19, 2026, during an election public holiday when the company’s offices were closed but security guards remained on duty.
The stolen property included three Dell all-in-one computers valued at Shs10.62 million, an HP monitor, a Sony audio recorder, two tablets, a wireless mouse and Shs4.5 million in cash. The total value of the property listed under the theft charge was Shs21.455 million.
In his judgment delivered on September 17, Magistrate Aisu said the prosecution had established that the offices were unlawfully broken into and that the stolen property was later traced to Bakora.
Court heard that a Lenovo tablet belonging to one of the company’s employees was tracked to Kyanja using its GPS location.
Police subsequently traced the tablet to an apartment where Bakora was arrested.
A search of his residence led to the recovery of another tablet, a hard drive, a Sony audio recorder, headphones and other items belonging to VNG International, a Dutch organisation.
The court also heard that police found photographs of the stolen computers on Bakora’s phone.
Bakora subsequently led investigators to Sun City Plaza, where some of the computers had been sold to a dealer.
The dealer, who testified as a prosecution witness, told court that Bakora had sold him the computers after claiming that he had obtained them from an auction.
However, Magistrate Aisu said Bakora gave conflicting accounts about how he came into possession of the property.
The magistrate said the conflicting explanations demonstrated a guilty mind and rejected Bakora’s defence that he had lawfully acquired the items.
‘His shifting accounts prove he took the property through unlawful means,’ the magistrate said.
Court found that the stolen property had been moved from VNG International to Kyanja and later to Sun City Plaza, where some of it was displayed for sale.
The court therefore concluded that Bakora intended to permanently deprive VNG International of its property.
While sentencing Bakora, the magistrate noted that office breaking carries a maximum sentence of seven years.
He also considered that Bakora was a first offender and a family man, but said the offence was rampant and that he had not shown remorse during the trial.
The court sentenced him to five years in prison.
Bakora pleaded with the magistrate to reduce the sentence, but the court declined.
His co-accused, Ogwang and Ongin, were acquitted of the charges of office breaking, theft and neglecting to prevent a felony.
The magistrate said there was no evidence placing either security guard at the scene when the break-in occurred.
The prosecution had alleged that the two guards failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the theft after thieves broke into the offices.
However, the court found that there was no evidence that they had prior knowledge of the planned felony or that they were present when it occurred.
Magistrate Aisu also noted that an accused person who raises an alibi does not bear the burden of proving it and that the prosecution had failed to disprove the guards’ accounts.
‘None of the prosecution witnesses saw the accused persons within the premises,’ the magistrate said.
The court explained the right of appeal to all the parties.