A Ugandan court on Thursday passed the death penalty against Christopher Okello Onyum, a 39-year-old Ugandan-born American, after he was found guilty of murdering four toddlers at a daycare in early April this year.
After a lengthy session, the marathon of mobile High Court convicted Okello of four counts of murder, before delivering his punishment after a brief court recess.
The audience at the venue broke into emotional celebrations and applause when Justice Komuhangi ruled that Okello was guilty of killing Ryan Odeke, Keisha Atim Agenrwoth, Gideon Eteku and Ignatius Sseruyange all aged under three.
The prosecutors also said the victims were “defenseless minors, the most innocent in our communities”, and that “the children who witnessed the execution of the four will permanently live with that trauma all through their lives, and the same applies to the caretakers and the entire Ggaba community”.
“It is our considered submission that there has never been a better case in our recent history to fit within the category of the rarest of the rare. An offence that is more aggravated in nature than the present case,” said Muwaganya.
“We implore the court to consider other factors that may justify the passing of the death sentence. The convict is an able-bodied man. A man by whose age was in the position of a father figure to the victims. But he chose to deploy his God-given abilities, his energy, his brain and his financial resources in the planning and execution of this crime that ended the chapter of four innocent souls.
“My lord, we are persuaded that a person of the convict’s nature is too dangerous to society Extremely dangerous that if he is not eliminated or at least permanently incapacitated, he will still have the potential to hurt humanity,” Muwaganya said.
Citing official crime reports, the prosecutors also said the offence of murder is rampant in Uganda. They said the lack of punitive sentences by the courts is one of the factors fueling homicide cases in Uganda.
“When sentences are light, there is an incentive to commit crime,” said Muwaganya.
The four young children, three males and a female were fatally stabbed by a knife-wielding Okello on what had been a routine day at Early Childhood Development Programme Centre on April 2.
MG/as/APA