Mob action tops Aswa police death cases ahead of Xmas

Police in Aswa River region have launched a community sensitisation and crime prevention campaign ahead of the festive season.
A key component of the campaign is educating communities against mob action, which police say is rampant in the area.
According to a recent Aswa River region police report, six of 10 cases of death registered in the past two weeks involved lynching.
 Two of the deaths were attributed to suicide, one to drowning and one to assault.

The Aswa River Region police spokesperson, Mr David Ongom Mudong, called upon communities to desist from mob action, saying those accused of crime should be  tried in courts of law.
He said: “All is being done in the various districts by police to curb these crimes. Our target is that lives and properties are safe during this festive period and crimes are reduced.”
According to the police report, of the six cases mob action cases, four were linked to theft while two were linked to assault.

In one of the cases that occurred on December 13, a resident identified as Makua Ssalongo was reportedly  lynched by an angry mob in Patongo Twon Council in Agago District after he hacked to death a labourer at his home.
On December 15, an angry mob lynched a 25-year-old resident of Tegwana Cell, Gulu East Division over alleged theft of a motor vehicle battery.
It is alleged that at about 8:30am on the fateful day, Abdul Rashid Oringa  was seen removing a battery from a motor vehicle near his village and the driver made an alarm.

Meanwhile, on the same day, three people were lynched at Lakwana Trading Centre in Lakwana Sub-county, Omoro District for  allegedly stealing cattle.
The three men: Michael Obita,  Rashid Oringa and Peter Onen, were reportedly found loading two bulls on a pick-up truck and they failed to explain where they had got the animals from.
Police took the bodies for post-mortem, and the vehicle and bulls were impounded. They are being kept at Omoro Central Police Station.
On Tuesday, a suspected thief whose identity had not yet been revealed by press time, was lynched by a mob in Layibi Centre after he was allegedly caught attempting to break into a shop. Two of his colleagues were rescued by police.

Meanwhile, the  suicide cases involved 47-year-old Baker Assimwe, a peasant farmer at Pajaa Village, Layei Parish, Anaka Town Council, Nwoya District, and 41-year-old Richard Ojara of Owiro Village, Wol Sub-county in Agago District. The two incidents occurred on December 17 and December 18, respectively.
Last Sunday, police at Gulu Central Police Station embarked on a hunt for a 39-year-old man who fled after he allegedly battered to death a colleague at a local bar in Gulu City.
The incident occurred at Kanyogoga A Cell, Bardege-Layibi Division in Gulu City.

The deceased has been identified as Jolly Joe Komakech. Other incidents include the death of a four-year-old boy, Oscar Kicaber, of Gotnguu Village, Paromo Parish in Nwoya District, who drowned in a stream, and the death of Ronald Nsamba of Mede Central Village, Mede Parish, Palaro Sub-county, in Gulu District due to an assault.
Mr Nsamba was reportedly beaten to death by Denis Okoya after they developed a misunderstanding at a local bar over a Shs1,000 debt.