The High Court in Kampala has condemned Hash Security Limited to paying Shs 115million to a bar patron who sustained two gunshot wounds at the hands of their security guard.
Zein Bukenya was shot in both thighs at Devanna Bar and Lounge located at Bulenga, on the Kampala–Mubende Road, on April 30 2022 by Muyinza Enock Busuulwa, an armed security guard deployed at the bar by Hash Security Limited.
According to court filings, Bukenya failed to pay a bill of Shs 116,000 claiming that his phone had run out of battery. He said he needed to first charge the phone before he could pay using mobile money.
When he tried to leave using a bod boda, he was accosted by the security guard demanding that he returns to the bar. In the scuffle, the firearm was discharged twice and Bukenya sustained two shots in the thighs. Busuulwa was charged criminally but was later acquitted.
In the meantime, Bukenya underwent a major surgery at Mulago National Referral Hospital. He later sued Hash Security for negligence. In his ruling, Justice Isaac Teko establishe that indeed the security guard failed on his duty of care to Bukenya.
“I find that DW1 [Busuulwa] owed the Plaintiff [Teko] a duty of care. He was an armed security guard entrusted with a loaded firearm and deployed in a commercial environment frequented by members of the public. The danger presented by a firearm is obvious and foreseeable. The standard of care required of a person handling such an instrument must correspond to that danger,” Justice Teko ruled.
The justice also rejected the defence of Hash Security that Bukenya shot himself in the process of fighting to disarm Busuulwa thus: “I have considered the testimony of the witnesses, the circumstances in which the firearm was carried and discharged, the demonstration by DW1 during the hearing, and the medical evidence. DW1 was unable to satisfactorily demonstrate how the firearm discharged in the manner alleged by the Defendant. His evidence was that the firearm was carried with a round chambered and the safety open. In the circumstances of a public commercial environment, that evidence is material to the assessment of whether reasonable care was exercised.”
The Justice went on: “The medical evidence is particularly important. PW3 testified that the bullets entered the posterior aspect of both thighs and exited anteriorly. That evidence is difficult to reconcile with the Defendant’s account that the Plaintiff had wrested control of the rifle in a face-to-face struggle and was then holding and directing it when it discharged into himself. The physical evidence is materially more consistent with the Plaintiff’s account than with the Defendant’s version. On the balance of probabilities, I therefore prefer the Plaintiff’s account on the material issue of the manner in which the shooting occurred and find that the Plaintiff did not struggle with DW1 or attempt to seize the firearm.”
In his suit, Bukenya had demanded Shs 250million in general damages and Shs 33.5 million in special damages. However, in his ruling, the judge reduced the general damages to 100million shillings, because Bukenya did not sustain permanent injuries and the special damages to 15million shilings because Bukenya failed to prove that he had incurred those costs in treatment. The judge also allowed Bukenya the cost of the suit and interest of 10% on the damages.-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
