Six men have been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for the murder of a key witness in a land dispute case and was also a long serving LC1 chairperson for Kachaboi village in Kachumbala Sub-County, Bukedea District.
The group led by led by one Julius Okodi have been sentenced by three Court of Appeal Justices Cheborion Barishaki, Christopher Gashirabake and Oscar Kihika.
The justices have unanimously ruled that prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the six Appellants participated in the killing of Mzee Echodu, after attacking him at night while coming from a latrine.
The prosecution states that on February 25th 2017 at about 8:3Opm, the deceased was at his house with his family members watching TV.
He then moved out of the house for a call of nature but was waylaid and stabbed several times by these assailants on his way back to the house, until he collapsed.
He made an alarm but by the time his family members and neighbours responded the assailants had fled the scene leaving him lying in a pool of blood.
According to the documents before Court, the deceased sustained several deep cut wounds on the head and other parts of the body and died almost instantly.
It was proved that the deceased had been receiving death threats from some of the appellants for a long time over his role as a caretaker of a piece of land which was the subject of a dispute between SP Opiko Charles, and the family of a one George Oumo.
The deceased had been listed as one of the key witnesses in a Civil Suit but he was murdered before he could testify.