Ggaba child murders: Prosecution witness gives chilling account of fateful day

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 WARNING: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing 

 MURDER AT A DAY CARE 
By Joseph Kizza
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The morning of April 2, 2026 had begun in ordinary fashion at Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre (Makindye division) in Uganda's capital Kampala. Nothing could have prepared anyone for the tragically dark developments that would unfold at this facility later that day. A lean, unassuming familiar figure would return to this day care — as by the account of an eyewitness — this time on a killing mission. The result: four innocent toddlers brutally slain in cold blood, a shaken Ggaba community and nation at large, as well as many answered questions.

Eleven days after that dark morning, the nation — and the rest of the keen watching world — saw the suspect, Christopher Okello Onyum, brought to a mobile High Court session at Ggaba Community Church, not far from the crime scene, to stand trial.

Appearing distinctly gaunt and wearing a tracksuit jacket over a black T-shirt and jeans for Monday's (April 13) session, he assuredly pleaded not guilty to each count of murder read out to him by High Court judge Alice Komuhangi Khaukha.

A couple of feet away from where Okello stood behind (and later sat in front of) a portable dock, the members of the community, including the bereaved families, sat under tents as they followed the proceedings.

▪️Ggaba murder suspect pleads not guilty to all four charges

When the prosecution team read out the four postmortem reports, as part of their evidence, it was clear that all the four young victims died of hypovolemic shock due to deep-cut injuries to the neck. 

Court learnt that both the prosecution and defence teams had agreed to the contents of all the reports prepared by Dr Abdul Katongole, who conducted the autopsies at the City Mortuary, Mulago on April 2.

Attention then turned to the witnesses summoned by the prosecution to testify and then be cross-examined by the defence lawyers. The first four witnesses included a member each from the bereaved families, in the order below;

▪️Stellah Apolot, 36, who considered the late Gideon Eteku as her son. She is a vendor of vegetables in Ggaba
▪️A resident of Ggaba Water and a chef, 32-year-old Marvin Komakech Otim is the father of the late Keisha Agenorwoth
▪️Lawrence Mbaziira, 40, the father of the late Ignatius Sseruyange, is a welder
▪️Simon Okurut, 30, the father of the late Ryan Odeke, is a resident of Ggaba Mission and works as an Uber driver

First encounter

After a lengthy recess, Monday's special court session resumed a few minutes to 5pm. Upon checking with the Uganda Prisons authorities, the judge decided there was still enough time for another prosecution witness to testify.

Phoebe Namutebi, a caretaker at Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre, was that witness, and she duly stepped forward. Under oath, she narrated what happened — from her point of view — on the eve of the murders and on the fateful day (April 1 and April 2, respectively).

To begin with, Namutebi told court that her work and that of her fellow caretakers at the day care typically involves receiving the children in the morning after they are dropped off by their parents or guardians, engaging them in various activities, feeding and bathing them and finally preparing them for pick-up at the end of the day.

She was asked whether she knew the accused, who sat quietly under guard not far from where she stood, to which she responded in the affirmative.

Her first encounter with Okello, the now accused man, was on April 1. At the time, he seemed like any other ordinary man.

It was a Wednesday. The children were outside playing — since it was break time — under the watchful eye of the all-female caretaking team, Namutebi told court.

Namutebi saw him standing in front of the facility's closed gate just before 11am. Curious, she approached him and, interacting in English, she asked the stranger how she could assist him. 

"He said he had been directed to the facility as a place where they take care of young children. I asked him for the age of the child he intended to bring to the centre. He said: about three years old," she told court.

But they only take care of children who are aged below three. So Namutebi instead recommended to Okello the nursery section also within the Maranatha Community Church, where he could get a place in baby class.

He claimed he had tried there already and had been advised by the teachers that his child may not fit in that class because he was reportedly anti-social and struggled with speech. That he was instead advised to bring the child to the day care for one term and then move him to baby class the following term after hopefully registering marked improvement in sociability.

Okello then asked for the requirements for enrollment.

"I told him what is needed is 120,000 per month, 10,000 for registration and 60,000 for uniform," testified Namutebi, adding that he would have to separately also buy a school bag for the child.

All the while, the two were separated by the closed gate: the caretaker inside and Okello outside.

Before leaving, the man asked how or where the payment for the requisite fees is done. In the cash office, she told him. Could he use mobile money instead? Namutebi responded in the affirmative.

Armed with that information, the stranger then left.

Second meeting

The man returned to the day care the following day around the same time and just like the morning before, he waited in front of the closed gate.

When she saw him, Namutebi once again walked over to him. He told her he had returned to work on what they had discussed the previous day. He carried a small backpack (for his would-be newcomer child, just as instructed).

"I opened the gate and led him to the office of the coordinator, Madam Odong Annet. She received him and offered him a seat. I then introduced him to Madam Annet and informed her that we had interacted the previous day," she told court.

In their interaction, Okello revealed to Odong that he was not the child's biological father. That his mother had been struggling after being abandoned by the father, and that he had offered to take care of the child as a good Samaritan.

According to Namutebi's testimony, the man said he had returned to pay all the required fees and that he would ask the child's mother to come to the facility to do the documentation. 

After doing a mental summation of the sh190,000 required to get his child enlisted, and upon confirmation by Odong, Okello deposited sh195,000 — including sh5,000 as withdrawal charges — on a given mobile money account.

Odong then asked Namutebi to write for him a receipt. She asked Okello for the name of the child: Z.U.R.I.E.L O.N.Y.U.M. He spelled out Zuriel Onyum on second prompting.

After entering the details, she handed him the receipt and told him they would be waiting for the child to be brought the following Tuesday.

"He moved out and walked towards the gate," narrated Namutebi.

Twist of events

Believing the man had departed, she naturally turned her attention to something else. But as she pulled the drawer to return the receipt book inside Odong's office, something outside the window caught her eye.

She saw the very man they had interacted with hunched over what seemed to be a child on the ground. Initially, she thought he was beating the toddler. Instinctively, Namutebi dropped the receipt book and rushed out of the coordinator's office and to the scene.

"Why are you beating my children?" she confronted Okello.

But before he could respond, she saw little Keisha lying down in a pool of blood. The man straightened up and held up a bloodied knife.

Court heard that in a flash, he reportedly grabbed another child, placed him on the ground and raised the knife, seemingly ready to strike. Namutebi told court she immediately knew he intended to kill the child. 

"I grabbed one of the bicycles the children use for playing and swang it at him. He let go of the child and started chasing me instead," she testified, also recalling making a distress alarm while fleeing for her life.

She fell down but upon seeing that she had tripped, the desperate caretaker's attacker stopped and turned back to where the children were. By the time she managed to get back up and limp back to the scene, Namutebi said she found he had stabbed another child. 

She grabbed another bicycle and thrust it at him in a desperate attempt to prevent him snatching a third child.

But during all that terrifyingly chaotic moment, where were the other caretakers? Namutebi was asked.

"One caretaker was cleaning the room where they [children] had taken their breakfast from. Another had gone to the washrooms to clean their potties [small portable toilets for young children]. Madam Odong was in her office finishing up with a report. The cook was in the kitchen preparing food," she told court.

It was only after hearing the distress calls that one caretaker and Odong dashed out to check what the matter was.

Meanwhile, Namutebi had failed to immediately identify the second victim lying bloodied on the ground. As she tried to stop the attacker from reaching a third child, he instead went after her.

Again, panicked and afraid for her own life, she was in full flight mode but kept on tripping. On the third fall, the attacker stood over her and brandished his knife. Extremely frightened, she thought he would slice her too. Remarkably though, he did not and instead returned to the children.

Court heard that this time around, it took the dazed caretaker a while to get back on her feet. And by the time she returned to the 'execution' area, the man had just finished slaying a fourth child, little Ryan — moments after taking the lives of little Gideon and little Ignatius.

The arrest

The desperate screams drew the attention of other people.

In burst a one Cyrus Bukenya, who kicked open the gate! And then Bashir, Timothy and the security guard, Moses!

Namutebi told court that Cyrus, Bashir and Timothy had come to the church to do some work, and that Moses had been on a routine patrol of the area at the time of the brutal attacks.

"Cyrus arrived when the attacker was holding the fourth child, having already slit him. He immediately arrested him and the rest joined him to subdue him," she said.

The attacker reportedly threw the killer knife over the fence when he saw the four men charge at him. During the struggle to suppress him, the responders are said to have recovered two other knives he had hidden in his socks.

"They took him to the security guard's room at the gate and locked him inside after seeing a mob arrive at the facility and baying for the suspect's blood," Namutebi testified.

As news of the attack spread quickly, anxious parents and guardians rushed to the day care to pick their children. But not everyone had survived, as tragic news awaited the families of four of the young victims.

Soon, the Police arrived and ordered everyone out of the premises, before cordoning off the facility.

"Police asked me to take off the clothes I was wearing because they were soaked in blood. I had carried Keisha in the desperate hope of taking her to hospital to save her life. But when I reached the gate, with her in my arms, I realized she was likely already dead because of the deep cut on her neck and her unresponsiveness," Namutebi told court.

That's how she got blood on her clothes. 

She would then leave Keisha at the gate and return to check on the other victims. It would then dawn on her that they, too, were already dead.

In the statement she recorded with Police, Namutebi described how a one 'Aunt Harriet' had brought a vehicle and moved three of the four bodies to a medical centre. 

But why was one body left on the verandah?

Namutebi said she believes the people who took the bodies were not aware there had been a fourth victim. She then later learnt that the bodies had been transferred from the medical centre to the City Mortuary at Mulago that same fateful day for autopsy.

In her testimony, Namutebi said the accused did not say anything while committing the crimes; he was only breathing heavily. And he carried the small backpack throughout the horrifying ordeal.

Upon securing him in their custody, the Police recovered the original receipt of the payment from the suspect's bag as one of the exhibits.

In court, Namutebi was shown a photocopy of that receipt. She identified the document by her own handwriting, the name of the supposed child (Zuriel Onyum), her signature, the date (April 2), the amount of 190,000 and the purpose of the payment: 'day care fees, uniform and registration'.

Due to time constraints, fifth prosecution witness Namutebi could not be cross-examined on the day by the accused's legal team. This will have to wait until Wednesday (April 15) when the trial resumes.

Same venue.