Suspect dies in city police cell

What you need to know:

  • Ms Annet Arinaitwe, a police officer who was in-charge of the cell overnight, says the suspect shredded a blanket and knotted the pieces to hang himself at about 8: 30p.

  • City Hall Grade One magistrate, Mr Moses Nabende, made an impromptu visit at the detention facility after receiving information that one of the suspects who was due to appear before him had passed on. 

KAMPALA.

A suspect has been found dead in Ntinda Police Station cell; hours before he was due to appear at City Hall Court on charges of being a common nuisance. 

Police say Sande Okumu, a private guard at a hotel in Ntinda, a city suburb, committed suicide. 

Ms Annet Arinaitwe, a police officer who was in-charge of the cell overnight, says the suspect shredded a blanket and knotted the pieces to hang himself at about 8: 30pm. 

Okumu was reportedly alive during an 8pm inspection. 

City Hall Grade One magistrate, Mr Moses Nabende, made an impromptu visit at the detention facility after receiving information that one of the suspects who was due to appear before him had passed on. 

The magistrate sought to examine firsthand the circumstances under which the suspect died. State Attorneys Jackie Kyasimire and Pamela Orogot as well a court clerk, who accompanied him, witnessed the removal and transfer of Okumu’s body for autopsy at Mulago National Referral Hospital. 

The judicial officials were told that police cell guard Mukisa Eddie found Okumu lifeless at about 9 pm. 

"It is true a suspect died in the cells, but I do not have the details ..." Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesman Emilian Kayima said.

Police had preferred a charge of common nuisance against the suspect after his arrest at about 6pm on Thursday. He was reported drunk and insulting hotel customers by the time police picked him up.