NASHUA – Severine Wamala, a native of Uganda who immigrated in 1988 to Massachusetts and became the head math teacher at Lowell High School before he was arrested and convicted on 11 sexual-assault charges, has filed a motion asking a Superior Court judge to suspend the remaining six years of his minimum 20-year prison sentence.

A jury in September 2007 found Wamala, now 59, guilty on 11 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, stemming from allegations he raped a young girl over a period of time, beginning when she was in sixth grade.

Wamala was cleared of one count of incest involving a 19-year-old girl who later recanted her allegations against him, according to a story that appeared in the Lowell Sun when Wamala was sentenced in November 2007.

Former Hillsborough County Superior Court South Judge Robert Lynn, who presided over Wamala’s case, had previously dismissed 10 additional sex-assault charges against him when a second victim, age 24, also recanted her allegations, according to the Sun story.

Roughly two months after he was convicted, Wamala was sentenced to two, 10-20 year terms in State Prison, to be served consecutively, for a total sentence of 20-40 years.

Now, as he comes upon the two-thirds point in his minimum sentence, Wamala is asking the court to suspend the remaining one-third of the minimum, according to the motion he filed in court.

A hearing on the matter had been scheduled for this week, but the judge granted a motion by the prosecutor to continue the hearing. It wasn’t immediately known if the courthouse’s staffing and scheduling changes due to the COVID-19 virus threat contributed to the judge’s decision.

But the prosecutor, First Assistant County Attorney Kent Smith, stated in a response that his office either “didn’t receive, or failed to note,” the notice the court sent out advising the parties that the hearing was scheduled for Monday.

The state therefore wasn’t able to notify the victim that the hearing had been scheduled, Smith wrote, adding that she delivered a victim impact statement at Wamala’s sentencing hearing, and wants to do so again at the hearing on Wamala’s motion to suspend.

In a separate, brief filing, Smith objected to Wamala’s motion, stating that Wamala never completed a sex-offender treatment program, which was one of the conditions of his sentencing order.

Wamala had lived in Nashua, in an apartment complex on Danforth Road, for about a year when he was arrested. His arrest, according to Telegraph stories at the time, stemmed from a domestic disturbance, which prompted the police investigation that led to the sex-related charges.

By all accounts an intelligent, well-educated man, Wamala came to the U.S. in 1988 and enrolled at UMass Lowell, where he earned a doctorate in engineering.

He worked for years in the engineering field, during which he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

In October 2003, Wamala was hired at Lowell High School as a substitute teacher, and became a full time math teacher about three months later.

In June 2006, roughly three months before he was arrested, Wamala was appointed chairman of the math department at Lowell High.

He was also a skilled chess player who coached Lowell’s chess team, according to the Lowell Sun story. Three of his children were, at the time, nationally ranked chess players.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.