News
Life imprisonment for murderer of Soroti pupil
According to court, the crime was carried out as part of a ritual sacrifice intended to help the convicts acquire wealth.
Suzan Vivian Ariokot (R) interacts with her lawyer Joseph Odong after she was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of five-year-old pupil Joan Faith Apio, at Soroti High Court in Soroti city on August 21, 2026. (Credit: Godfrey Ojore)
By: Godfrey Ojore, Journalist @New Vision
_________________________
JUSTICE
After one-and-a-half years of waiting, justice was finally served on Thursday evening in a case involving the murder of a five-year-old pupil in Uganda's eastern city of Soroti.
Joan Faith Apio (pictured below), who attended Jozan Nursery and Primary School in Soroti city, was murdered in cold blood at the school on February 5, 2025.
Soroti High Court judge Boniface Wamala convicted and sentenced three people over her death.
Court found that Apio was gruesomely murdered by Suzan Vivian Ariokot (pictured below), the wife of the school's director, Joseph Okedi, who was equally charged with murder.
According to court, the crime was carried out as part of a ritual sacrifice intended to help Ariokot and her husband acquire wealth.
“The way you killed the innocent girl was like you were slaughtering a chicken," the prosecution team told the convicts and felt each one of them deserved the death penalty.
"We believe that this killing was motivated by ritual sacrifice for material gains, showcasing absolute moral decadence."
According to court, the crime was carried out as part of a ritual sacrifice intended to help Ariokot and her husband acquire wealth.
“The way you killed the innocent girl was like you were slaughtering a chicken," the prosecution team told the convicts and felt each one of them deserved the death penalty.
"We believe that this killing was motivated by ritual sacrifice for material gains, showcasing absolute moral decadence."
The third convict is John Bosco Obotol, the younger brother of Okedi who worked as the police officer in charge of crime intelligence in Soroti.
Eventually, Justice Wamala sentenced Ariokot to life imprisonment, the second-highest punishment after the death penalty.
The court established that although Okedi did not physically participate in the killing, he played a significant role in planning and executing the murder. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Obotol was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in taking away body parts from the deceased child and attempting to interfere with the investigation.
The sentences bring to an end a case that has drawn a great deal of attention from within Soroti and beyond since Apio’s murder last year.
(Read further details of the case and the court’s sentencing decision in Friday’s New Vision edition, whose electronic version you can access here 👉🏽 E-PAPER.)
Okedi and his younger brother Obotol in the dock after being convicted of murder
Eventually, Justice Wamala sentenced Ariokot to life imprisonment, the second-highest punishment after the death penalty.
The court established that although Okedi did not physically participate in the killing, he played a significant role in planning and executing the murder. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Obotol was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in taking away body parts from the deceased child and attempting to interfere with the investigation.
The sentences bring to an end a case that has drawn a great deal of attention from within Soroti and beyond since Apio’s murder last year.
(Read further details of the case and the court’s sentencing decision in Friday’s New Vision edition, whose electronic version you can access here 👉🏽 E-PAPER.)