Gulu District official in suspected suicide

Kampala. The police in Gulu District have launched investigations into alleged suicide by the Gulu District sports officer, Aldo Okot Otto.

Otto, 55, was found dead shirtless under a jack fruit tree at his home in Pece Pa Odyek Village, Pece Division, Gulu Municipality on Saturday morning. He had a rope around his neck.

One family member said Otto came back home early on Friday at about 6pm showing no signs of distress. He said the deceased chatted with his neighbours and children and ate supper at 8pm while “jolly”.
“The deceased’s wives [two] were not at home; they had gone to the village in Awere Sub-county where they are harvesting. He [Aldo] was jolly when he came back; it was also unusual for him to come home very early because of his commitments in town,” a relative said.

He added that after supper, the deceased entered his room and never came out until in the morning when one of the sons started yelling that someone was lying motionless near their home.
“I never heard anything at night like struggles or someone opening the door, we thought he had slept in his room. But I was surprised that in the morning he was found dead outside the house,” the relative said.

Mr Grace Davis Pande, the officer in charge of Criminal Investigation at Gulu Central Police Station, who visited the crime scene, said an interview on Saturday that preliminary information they gathered points to possible suicide.
“We are carrying out investigation on what could have exactly happened that led the deceased to hang himself. Could it be an external or an internal factor because a person of his calibre couldn’t have just picked up a rope to hang himself minus a trigger factor?” Mr Pande said.

He said five people, who include a maid and the deceased’s children who were at home on Friday night, will be interrogated.
The body was taken to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital for a postmortem.

Dr Christopher Okello, the Chairperson Aol Community to which the deceased was a secretary, described Otto as a sober person who wouldn’t have committed suicide without a grave cause.
“He was hardworking and always God-fearing. We never heard of anything or complaints prior to his death. We shall wait for the postmortem results pointing to his cause of death,” Dr Okello said.

The Gulu District Education Officer, Mr Caesar Akena, regretted the demise of Mr Otto. “He was very hardworking; it’s the reason I appointed him to deputise me in the education department,” Mr Akena said.

ABOUT OTTO
Otto was appointed district sports officer in 2004, a position he held until his demise.
By the time of his death he had been acting senior deputy education officer Gulu District from July 2016.
The deceased was also serving as the Uganda National Sports Chairman, a position he was appointed to in May this year.
He has been Biology teacher at Awere Senior Secondary School since 1992 and Gulu High School between 1997 and 1999.