Man arrested after returning church chairs he stole

Joel Enuu a resident of Otucopi a suburb of Soroti Town admired altar chairs at St Patrick Catholic Church Madera Mission and hatched a plan to steal them.

This was in a bid to impress his girlfriend who had pressured him to buy chairs since the bed had doubled as furniture for the couple.

Two weeks ago Enuu's mission materialized and his rented room was decorated with the beautiful chairs valued at sh600,000.

Last Sunday the Madera parish priest Father Simon Wankya issued a seven day ultimatum for the thief to return the chairs or else face the wrath of God.

When the message was echoed on radio Ennu decided to return the chairs.

"I took back the chairs after hearing that the priest was going to pray for the thief of the church chairs to become mad. I decided to take back the chairs at 1am on Friday morning in fear of becoming mad" Enuu said.

He explained that he earned praise from his girlfriend, who he declined to name, for buying rear chairs that can hardly be found in any home in Soroti.

"I don't know what to tell her when she returns and finds the chairs missing however I am seeking forgiveness from the church because it was the act of the devil" Enuu begged.

For now he is 'lucky' he will not be grilled by his girlfriend about the whereabouts of the chairs because Police has detained him on charges of theft of church property.

"Ennu is a habitual thief who has just returned from prison over theft of a pig and a laptop. His file is ready and we expect him to be taken to court either this week or next week" said Isaac Massa the OC of Otucopi.

Fr. Wankya said the church will forgive him but demanded that Enuu reveal the whereabouts of five other missing chairs valued at sh500,000.

"We suspect that he has details towards our five chairs that got stolen two month ago but as a church we are taught to forgive and we have forgiven him" Fr. Wankya said.

Moses Emitu the church secretary said they have lost several items to thieves including chicken belonging to a priest, charcoal stoves and basins.