Judgment day for suspected murderers of Soroti pupil
During the two-and-a-half weeks of court hearing, the court heard that four key muscles that enable a person to swallow food were missing from Apio's body, according to a postmortem examination conducted by a police surgeon.
-Ariokot left Okedi, her husband, on a T-shirt next to Edoket and Obotol right in the dock. (Photo by Godfrey Ojore)
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Six people accused of murdering six-year-old Joan Faith Apio in Uganda's eastern city of Soroti in early 2025 are set to know their fate Thursday.
Soroti High Court Judge Boniface Wamala is expected to deliver his long-awaited judgment.
Apio attended Jozan Nursery and Primary School in Soroti.
The accused have been on remand for about one-and-a-half years.
They are Suzan Vivian Ariokot and her husband, Joseph Okedi, the former director of Jozan Nursery and Primary School director; Police detective Corporal John Bosco Obotol; James Edoket, the former headteacher of the nursery section at Jozan; Osula Adongo, a former matron; and Valentine Opio, the former school cook.
Prison wardens escorting Okedi in handcuffs with Opio, and in the background are Edoket and Obotol as they walk into the courtroom. (Photo by Godfrey Ojore)
However, the assessors asked the court to acquit Opio, saying he had no role in the alleged murder of Apio.
It is alleged that on February 5, 2025, at Jozan Nursery and Primary School in East Division, Soroti city, with malice aforethought, the suspects unlawfully caused the death of little Apio.
During the two-and-a-half weeks of court hearing, the court heard that four key muscles that enable a person to swallow food were missing from Apio's body, according to a postmortem examination conducted by a police surgeon.
Court will ascertain whether this qualifies as a child sacrifice case or not in Thursday's ruling.
Initially, court charged eight suspects with murder, but later freed two suspects who were minors after accepting their guilty pleas.
Subsequently, the State turned the minors into key prosecution witnesses.
Ariokot allegedly instructed one of the minors to bring Apio and her twin sister to her.
One minor witness claimed that Ariokot, together with Okedi's brother, Obotol, took part in the killing.
“Arikot called me inside the toilet where the body of Apio lay after her throat had been cut. She then instructed me to go to the school canteen to buy another cutter knife that she used to cut the lifeless body more,” the young witness testified.
Suzan Vivian Ariokot, the wife of Joseph Okedi, who a witness accused of killing the child using a cutter knife. (Photo by Godfrey Ojore)
“She then pulled some body parts through her throat and put them in a black polyethene paper that she later gave to Obotol, who was waiting outside. Ariokot then warned me never to tell anybody, or else she will do what she had done to Apio."
The parents of the slain twin are John Oluma and Angel Everline Akol from Kapelebyong district.
The police recovered the alleged killer weapon, which was tendered before court.
Since the hearing began, members of the public have been attending the court sessions in large numbers to follow the proceedings.