Pupil’s death: Police accused of forging post-mortem report

Kole. Police in Kole District are in the spotlight for allegedly attempting to forge a post-mortem report with intent to save two Indian nationals accused of killing a pupil.

Police said the autopsy conducted by their pathologist, Dr Francis Olwa, indicated that 11-year-old Dickens Okello, a pupil of Alito Primary School in Alito Sub-county, died of heart-related complications.

Okello died last Friday under unclear circumstances after allegedly interfacing with two Indian nationals.
However, cultural and political leaders in Lango Sub-region have doubted the credibility of the police report and demanded for a fresh post-mortem.

Police version
Trouble started when North Kyoga region police spokesperson David Ongom Mudong on Sunday read out the post-mortem results, indicating the victim died as a result of heart failure. However, Dr Olwa disowned Mr Ongom’s announcement.
“I carried out the post-mortem but I have not yet released the results, so I do not know where they [police] got the results from,” Dr Olwa said on Monday.

Dr Richard Nam, the prime minister of Lango Cultural Foundation, said they do not believe in the police post-mortem report because the deceased appears to have been strangled.

Residents’ version
“During the post-mortem, I was in the room together with Dr Francis Olwa [police pathologist] as he carried out the post-mortem. The deceased’s neck was turned round with blood in his eyes,” Dr Nam told Daily Monitor on Monday.
Dr Nam added that another post-mortem conducted by government pathologists in Kampala on Monday indicated that there was a blood clot in the deceased’s neck. The District Woman Member of Parliament, Ms Judith Alyek, also indicated that as members of the Lango Parliamentary Group, they disown the police report.

“We will not sit and watch such incidences continue in our region. We shall present the problems before Parliament so that if possible, they find a way forward to helping our people,” she said.
Okello, a Primary Three pupil, was found dead near the school premises at around 4pm as the pupils returned home from school on Friday. It is reported the deceased was with his friends when the two Indian nationals, who were driving a white Toyota Ipsum, lured them with biscuits.

According to a witness, the suspects, now under custody at Kole Central Police Station, also offered the children Shs2,000. But when the children reportedly refused and ran away. The suspects allegedly chased after them, pounced on Okello and allegedly strangled him. Following the incident, the two suspects allegedly sped off but were immediately arrested by the residents and later handed over to police. A murder charge has been preferred against them.

Government response
The Resident District Commissioner, Mr Milton Odongo, yesterday issued a statement, calling for calm.
“On behalf of the government, I regret the sudden death of a 11-year-old boy by suspected two Asians and I wish to inform the public that the government security agencies are professionally handling the matter and the suspects will soon appear in court if found guilty,” he said.

“The above actions by the two suspected Asians is an isolated and people should not generalise all the Indians community in Lira (Lango) as bad people. No any person or group of people should take law in their hands using the above incident to cause insecurity, loot/robe the properties (shops, supermarkets, hardware, etc.) of the Asians and other members of the business community in Lira Town or any part of Lango.

Recent cases
October. An Indian national was arrested in Lira and remanded to Lira prison after beating up his servant into coma. He accused the worker of wastage while preparing meals.
Objective. On May 5, two Indian nationals in Lira also allegedly put red pepper into their servant’s anus, accusing him of stealing bread.

By Bill Oketch, Patrick Ebong, Charity Akullo & Barbara Akite

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