Commute Judith Koriang’s sentence
Sep 21, 2010
THE court martial last week sentenced to death Judith Koriang, 20, for murdering her husband, Pte Nelson Okello. Koriang’s woes started when a UPDF team of soldiers tested soldiers and their spouses for HIV. She tested positive and Okello was negative.
THE court martial last week sentenced to death Judith Koriang, 20, for murdering her husband, Pte Nelson Okello. Koriang’s woes started when a UPDF team of soldiers tested soldiers and their spouses for HIV. She tested positive and Okello was negative.
This unfortunate turn of events earned her endless insults from her husband who believed she had been engaged in extramarital affairs.
The double tragedy of Okello’s sudden end and Koriang’s condemnation to death raises some fundamental issues.
The UPDF Act subjects soldiers to military law and discipline. It also empowers the army to court- martial anybody in the company of the armed forces who uses firearms to commit a crime. Was the HIV test also carried out in a similar military style or were professionally medical guidelines honoured?
At 20, Koriang is barely out of her teens. She was born in 1990 when many facts we know about HIV today and precautions recommended were not readily available. She swears she knew no other man except her husband. It is very likely she was born infected and is telling the truth that she knew no other man. This is the crux of the matter.
Koriang might have been a victim of forces beyond her comprehension.
The stress of discovering she was HIV-positive, coupled with the nagging insults of her husband, pushed her over the edge.
Something in her psyche must have snapped and made her temporarily insane as to make her decide to kill her child and her husband. Maybe she deserves to be heard by a civil court.
Koriang’s case is laden with ethical issues. With her husband dead and Koriang hanged, what is the fate of their child? There are compelling mitigating circumstances that demand her sentence be commuted.
This unfortunate turn of events earned her endless insults from her husband who believed she had been engaged in extramarital affairs.
The double tragedy of Okello’s sudden end and Koriang’s condemnation to death raises some fundamental issues.
The UPDF Act subjects soldiers to military law and discipline. It also empowers the army to court- martial anybody in the company of the armed forces who uses firearms to commit a crime. Was the HIV test also carried out in a similar military style or were professionally medical guidelines honoured?
At 20, Koriang is barely out of her teens. She was born in 1990 when many facts we know about HIV today and precautions recommended were not readily available. She swears she knew no other man except her husband. It is very likely she was born infected and is telling the truth that she knew no other man. This is the crux of the matter.
Koriang might have been a victim of forces beyond her comprehension.
The stress of discovering she was HIV-positive, coupled with the nagging insults of her husband, pushed her over the edge.
Something in her psyche must have snapped and made her temporarily insane as to make her decide to kill her child and her husband. Maybe she deserves to be heard by a civil court.
Koriang’s case is laden with ethical issues. With her husband dead and Koriang hanged, what is the fate of their child? There are compelling mitigating circumstances that demand her sentence be commuted.