The High Court in Soroti on Wednesday re-sentenced Francis Andrew Obirai who poured acid on his girlfriend to 40 years imprisonment.

Obirai who was earlier convicted and sentenced to 35 years on March 9, 2018, for attacking his lover, Dorothy Atim, a former sales representative with Vision Group causing her death, previously had his sentence of 35 years quashed by the Court Of Appeal.

This was on grounds that during his trial at Soroti High Court, which was by then presided over by Judge David Batema, court assessors were not given to take the oath. 

However, Justice Dr Henry Peter Adonyo, while sentencing the accused on February 21, said the sentence serves to send a strong message to would-be offenders who might be tempted to commit such a killing by acid attack. 

State attorney Paul Okello told the court that the accused had practiced one of the rarest killings which calls for a maximum sentence.

Obirai who was 34 at the time he committed the offence, saw his conviction overturned in a ruling delivered on February 7, 2023, where justices Hellen Obura, Catherine Bamugemereire and Christopher Madrama, ordered for the retrial on grounds that the High Court trial proceeded without assessors. 

Obirai was accused of attacking Atim (30) using acid on September 8, 2013, at their home in Senior Quarters, Soroti Town.

Atim was rushed to Mulago Hospital in critical condition and she died on February 28, 2014, after spending six months in Ward 2C where she was admitted.

Obirai, while receiving his conviction, pleaded to the court to have leniency while sentencing him.

As a sign of solidarity, Atim’s relatives while appearing at Soroti High Court or the sentencing, were clad in white t-shirts with the message ‘Stop Acid Attacks’ at the back.