Bombo killer soldier gets 90-year jail sentence

Private Patrick Okot Odoch displays a thumbs-up sign after he was sentenced to 90 years in jail by the General Court Martial sitting in Bombo yesterday. The soldier was found guilty of shooting and killing 10 people near the Bombo army headquarters recently. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA 

By Dan Wandera
 

 

In Summary

Pte Patrick Okot Odoch killed 10 people and injured two others in Bombo Town.

Bombo

The General Court Martial has sentenced a UPDF soldier, Pte Patrick Okot Odoch, to 90 years in jail for murder, attempted murder, failure to protect war material and attempted robbery.


Okot was given a 65-year jail term for the murder of 10 people, who included five fellow soldiers, in a bar in Bombo Town.

The court also sentenced him to 25 years in jail for failure to protect war materials. Each of these two sentences will run independently, court ruled. The court also gave Okot a 15-year jail term for attempted murder. Okot was also sentenced to 20 years in jail for attempted robbery. The two sentences run concurrently under the 90 years.


Okot remained calm, showing no emotion even after the sentence. He even waved at the public outside court.

The public in Bombo Town yesterday expressed mixed reactions to the court sentence.


While authorities, including the Bombo Town Council Chairperson, Ms Aisha Kadala, welcomed the sentence as deterrent, several residents, including relatives of those who died in the incident, said the jail term can never be equated to the lives lost.

Mr Mustafa Onegi, who lost his brother David Okecha, told the Daily Monitor that the sentence was very unfair to the relatives of the deceased. “Okot will be very safe in prison but our dear ones are gone forever.


We thought the death penalty would heal some of our wounds since the convict has not respect for other peoples’ lives,” Mr Onegi said.

However, Mr Mustafa Kamis Kenyi, 70, a senior resident of Mpakawero Zone, where the incident occurred, told the Daily Monitor, said the sentence is fair and an equivalent of a death penalty, arguing that the convict would be in jail for a long time with little hope of leaving prison alive.

Court martial chairman Fred Tolit said the court had made wider consultations in regard to the international humanitarian laws which are against the death penalty. Both the defence and state prosecution told the court that the convict was a first offender with a clean service record except for the offences for which he was appearing before court.

Luzira shooting incident

In January, a court martial sentenced Herbert Rwakihembo, a UPDF soldier to 30 years in prison for shooting dead three people and injuring one in Luzira last year. The court martial sitting at Luzira Church of Uganda Primary School found Rwakihembo guilty of three charges of manslaughter and attempted murder.

Rwakihembo was sentenced to 30 years for each of the three charges and five years for attempted murder.


The sentences will run co-currently. The court heard that on December 10, 2012, at Kisenyi Zone III, Luzira in Nakawa Division, Rwakihembo shot dead Irene Namuyaba Nakibirango, Zaina Nassolo Nalongo and Loyce Kawendeke.