Slain Kotido Fr O’Toole Remembered
Mar 17, 2003
TEARS flowed yesterday as an Irish family painfully recalled March 21, 2002, when their 31-year-old son, Fr Declan O’Toole, a Mill Hill Fathers Missionary, his driver, Patrick Longoli, his cook and Fidelis Longole, were murdered in Kotido district,
TEARS flowed yesterday as an Irish family painfully recalled March 21, 2002, when their 31-year-old son, Fr Declan O’Toole, a Mill Hill Fathers Missionary, his driver, Patrick Longoli, his cook and Fidelis Longole, were murdered in Kotido district, reports Alfred Wasike.
Paul O’Toole, 60, his wife Carmel, 56, dairy farmers from Galway on the west coast of Ireland, their daughter, Sharon, 30, a Dublin-based cancer research scientist, and a family friend, Pat Power, travelled to Uganda. They held a memorial service in Panyangara Catholic Mission, Kotido, where the late priest served.
With tears rolling down their faces, the family appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to make public the UPDF investigation into the murders and executions of two UPDF soldiers convicted by a field court martial.
Cpl. James Omedio and Pte Abdallah Muhammad were publicly executed on March 26, 2002 near Kotido town.
Their execution triggered off protests, especially from Ireland, a nation officially opposed to the death penalty.
Fr O’Toole was ordained in June 1997 and fondly named Apaulopus (our brightly coloured/kindhearted bull) by his Jie parishioners, among whom he worked to set up the Panyangara Catholic Mission.
Before that he worked at Mbiko, near Jinja, from 1993 to 1995 and returned to Uganda in October 1997. The Irish community in Uganda honoured him as Irish Person of the Year 2003.
Declan was returning from Moroto to renew his driver’s permit when he was shot dead. His killers were reported to be the soldiers who were quickly tried and executed.
Ends
Paul O’Toole, 60, his wife Carmel, 56, dairy farmers from Galway on the west coast of Ireland, their daughter, Sharon, 30, a Dublin-based cancer research scientist, and a family friend, Pat Power, travelled to Uganda. They held a memorial service in Panyangara Catholic Mission, Kotido, where the late priest served.
With tears rolling down their faces, the family appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to make public the UPDF investigation into the murders and executions of two UPDF soldiers convicted by a field court martial.
Cpl. James Omedio and Pte Abdallah Muhammad were publicly executed on March 26, 2002 near Kotido town.
Their execution triggered off protests, especially from Ireland, a nation officially opposed to the death penalty.
Fr O’Toole was ordained in June 1997 and fondly named Apaulopus (our brightly coloured/kindhearted bull) by his Jie parishioners, among whom he worked to set up the Panyangara Catholic Mission.
Before that he worked at Mbiko, near Jinja, from 1993 to 1995 and returned to Uganda in October 1997. The Irish community in Uganda honoured him as Irish Person of the Year 2003.
Declan was returning from Moroto to renew his driver’s permit when he was shot dead. His killers were reported to be the soldiers who were quickly tried and executed.
Ends