Man who escaped from jail threatens victim's family

Oct 20, 2016

“He escaped and he is at large. He is threatening to harm us."

WARNING! GRAPHIC PICTURE AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE

The family of a priest speared by a man who was later convicted of the crime say he is now threatening to harm them ever since he escaped from jail.

Lawrence Otim, commonly known as Ocuc, was in May this year handed five years after being found guilty of attempted murder by a Lira court. He had been charged with spearing Camilo Canna, an inactive priest, over an alleged land dispute.

But two months into his incarceration, he escaped while being transferred to Loro government prison in Oyam district.

The family of the victim are now living in fear and insist the escaped convict could harm them.

"He escaped and he is at large. He is threatening to harm us," Canna, who was attacked, told New Vision.

A source at the prison told of how Otim escaped, albeit the details are hazy.

Some 36 inmates were selected to work on the prison farm late July. But while on the farm, Otim claimed he was not feeling fine so warders tasked him to roast maize for his fellow inmates.

"He brought the roasted maize twice and disappeared and when the warders realized, they started looking for him only to find he had removed the yellow uniform and abandoned it in the bush," said the prison source who did not want to be named.

The same source claimed that the fugitive has visited the family a number of times.

Another person claimed he had seen Otim in Kawempe in Kampala and has reportedly since shifted to Busia.

Meanwhile, the officer in charge at Loro prison, Fastino Aine, said they are "seriously" looking for the escaped prisoner.

He said they got intelligence information that he would attend the burial of his father David Okello two weeks ago. "He didn't come. Otherwise we were going to arrest him."

He said he had reported and alerted the police about his escape.  

When Canna was speared last year, he was rushed to Lira medical Centre and had the spear removed.

 



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