Convicted Serial Killer Richard Arinaitwe’s Life Imprisonment Sentence has been reduced to 24 years!

In February, Arinaitwe petitioned the Court of Appeal to quash his life sentence.

He has spent more than 20 years in Luzira prisons for the murder of an American Volunteer Cecilia Goetz, at Hotel Equatorial in Kampala, on July 28th 1998.

The victim, an American volunteer Cecilia Maria Goetz, had been in the country to follow the utilisation of the HIV/Aids funds in Uganda and more specifically in Rakai District where the scourge had wiped out entire families.

He was jointly Charged with the attempted murder of then Buganda Road Chief Magistrate and now Judge Alividza, and Police Constable Baliita.

During a series of hearings into the murder case, Arinaitwe had turned against the Chief Magistrate, grabbed a bangle from the Chief Magistrate’s hand which he straightened and tried to use to stab her and her body guard.

It was Judge Alividza’s Body Guard, Police Constable Baliita, who responded to her wailing and rescued her.

Facts about Arinaitwe:

At the time of his arrest, Richard Arinaitwe was a first year Law student at Makerere University who had passed with flying colors to join University.

Police found that as a juvenile, Richard Arinaitwe had been involved in the robbery of Speedbird Forex Bureaux in the Sheraton Hotel. The senior members of the gang were locked up in Luzira while Arinaitwe as a juvenile was sent to Kampiringisa for rehabilitation.

When police searched his room at his father’s house in Kololo, they discovered a string of crime novels among which were James Hardly Chase, James Bond films among others. Police watched the movies to try and read into Richard Arinaitwe’s mind and found them to be horrific.
Police also recovered a calendar from Richard Arinaitwe’s room and found that on July 28, 1998 the day the Cecilia Maria Goetz was murdered and drew a picture of a skull and two bones crossing similar to the one usually seen on electricity poles and marked it ‘Kabi Danger Hatari.’

Arinaitwe is known as the serial killer who did not even spare his inmates.

A report from Uganda Prisons says he has improved in character.tmc