Four men spared death, get life in jail

By Hillary Nsambu                       

The Court of Appeal has set aside a sentence of death that had been passed against four men who were convicted of murder and substituted it with life imprisonment for each of them.

One of them is 81-year-old Benon Ocheng, who hails from Te-Angalo village in Apac district.

High Court judge emeritus Caroline Okello convicted them of the murder of Augustino Okori, who was a villagemate following a clan land dispute in 2008.

Justices Remmy Kasule, Faith Mwondha and Richard Buteera, who presided over the court, rejected the men’s argument that the trial court had failed to properly evaluate the evidence against them thereby leading to a wrong decision.

The justices said they had found no fault with her (Okello’s) judgment.

“We have not found anything in this case that the trial judge acted upon a wrong principle or overlooked any material factor.

“However, we are of the view that while the sentence of death is legal, it was  harsh and excessive considering the fact of the rather advanced age of each of the appellants and the period they had spent on remand,” the court ruled recently.

The prosecution evidence on record was that at the time of the murder, Okori (victim) had been strongly opposed to Ocheng’s intentions of selling the disputed land.

It was further revealed that Okori was about to give evidence in the law court in Lira in respect of the disputed property.

The appellants, who visibly looked relieved in the dock as the court pronounced itself on the sentence, included Raymond Okada, 63; Jolly Joe Akena, 52, and Augustine Ocen, also aged 52.

All of them had denied the murder charges and had put up a defence of alibi.

 The court upheld the trial court’s finding that the prosecution evidence proved that all the four appellants shared a common intention to kill Augustino Okori.