Katakwi man gets 30 years in jail for killing in-law over dowry

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Vincent Odongo from Katakwi district will spend the next 24 years of his life locked up in jail after he was found guilty of killing his in-law and subsequently condemned to a prison sentence.

Although the 37-year-old convict was handed a 30-year jail term, he will actually serve 24 years and eight months. The five years and four months he had spent on remand at Soroti Main Prison were deducted from his sentence.

Judge Boniface Wamala delivered the sentence at Soroti High Court in Uganda's eastern city of Soroti on Friday (November 7).

Odongo, a resident of Kipinyanga village in Katakwi, was convicted of murdering his in-law, Joseph Onangu, on May 4, 2020, over a dowry dispute.

He committed the crime after accusing Onangu of failing to return the dowry he had paid for marrying his daughter, with whom they had later divorced.

The couple had four children together, and Odongo had paid four cows as dowry.

When they divorced after eight years of marriage, Odongo wanted his dowry back, which Onangu failed to do upon request, leading to the tragic confrontation.

During the trial, five witnesses testified that after Odongo repeatedly confronted his in-law over the matter, he attacked and strangled him to death on the fateful night of May 4.

During the mitigation process, defence lawyer Francis Ajum had pleaded for leniency, citing Odongo's poor health condition, citing liver disease.

The prosecution team, led by Rebecca Namatala, had requested a maximum sentence of death, but the court settled for 30 years.

While delivering the sentence, Judge Wamala said the convict's actions were brutal and the sentence serves as a warning to would-be offenders.

Also in eastern Uganda, the same judge sentenced 23-year-old Joseph Akwar from Kalaki district to 40 years behind bars after being convicted of murdering his father.

Akwar was found guilty of killing his father, Simon Akwaru, in a brutal machete (panga) attack in October 2021 in Obule village, Kalaki.

Court records indicate that Akwar fatally hacked his father after accusing him of forcing him to drop out of school and arranging for him to marry a school-going girl.