KAPCHORWA, UGANDA: Police in Kapchorwa have arrested a 20-year-old student on allegations of murder after stabbing a colleague to death for failing to refund an unspecified sum of money he owed him.
The suspect identified as Ismail Chelanga is an agricultural student at Uganda Christian Institute in Lira City who is currently under custody at Kapchorwa Central Police Station.
According to North Kyoga Regional Police Spokesperson SP Patrick Jimmy Okema, Chelanga allegedly stabbed Jeremiah Mwanga, 24, to death on Friday, April 14, 2023, and fled to his home district in Kapchorwa where he has been hiding since then.
“Our team at Lira Central Police Station got in touch with the police in Kapchorwa and immediately arrested him on arrival and he is being held in Kapchorwa as I speak now,” SP Okema said in a press briefing with journalists on Tuesday.
He added plans are underway by the Lira territorial police to pick up Chelangat from Kapchorwa so that his case can be transported back to Lira City where he committed the offence from.
The police annual crime report of 2022 indicates that a total of 953 cases of murder by mob action were reported to police in 2022 compared to 759 cases reported in 2021.
About 978 persons were lynched in 2022 of whom, 943 were male adults, 25 were female adults, nine were male juveniles and one was a female juvenile.
Albertine region registered the highest number of cases of murder by mob action in 2022 (82 cases), followed by Kampala Metropolitan North with 72 cases, West Nile with 71 cases, Kampala Metropolitan Police South with 60 cases and Busoga East with 58 cases.
Section 188 about Murder in Uganda’s constitution states that “any person who of malice aforethought causes the death of another person by unlawful act or omission commits murder and shall if convicted be sentenced to death.
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