Does the death sentence still carry weight? Ggaba murders [New Vision CSI: Crime Stories]

In this episode of New Vision CSI: Crime Stories, we revisit the shocking Ggaba toddlers’ murder case and examine the debate around Uganda’s death penalty. Host Raziah Athman is joined by advocate Joshua Byamazima to unpack Christopher Onyum Okello’s conviction, his planned appeal, and whether the death sentence still carries real weight in Uganda today. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I hereby sentence him to suffer death for the murder of Etico Gideon in County One.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hello and welcome to this episode of New Vision CSI Crime Stories. I'm Razia Uthman.

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And Odeke Rayan.

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We take a look at one of the most disturbing criminal cases Uganda has witnessed in recent years: the murder of four toddlers at GABA Early Childhood Development Center and the debate it has reignited about the death penalty in Uganda.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

And Odeke Rayan in count for in a manner authorized by law.

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Even though courts continue to sentence convicts to death for capital offenses such as murder and aggravated robbery, Uganda has not carried out an execution since 1999. So the big question is: does the death sentence still carry real weight? Today, advocate Joshua Biamazima helps us break down the conviction and sentencing of Christopher Okelo Onyum, his intent to appeal, the legal process surrounding death row in Uganda, and the country's history with executions, plus the growing human rights debate surrounding capital punishment.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

No, no, my lord, I don't even want to apologize to Uganda.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Last Friday, the High Court convicted Christopher Okelo Onyum for the gruesome killing of four toddlers at Gaba Early Childhood Development Center on April 2nd. After nearly three weeks of trial, the court found that Okelo deliberately and unlawfully killed Ryan Odeque aged one and a half years. Kisha, again Orooth Otim, aged two, Gideon Eteku, aged two and a half, and Ignatius Serunyange, also aged two and a half. The court rejected Okelo's insanity defense.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Should I take it that you don't have anything to say?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yes, yes, yes, my lad, I don't have anything to say. Okelo, who is 39 years old, is Ugandan by birth and also a United States citizen. High Court judge Alice Komuhanji Kauka sentenced him to death, describing the case as among the rarest of the rare. She noted that even probation officers had not encountered such brutality in the area. Thank you so much for joining us. Given the brutality of the GABA murders and the public attention surrounding the open trial, what legal factors may have led Justice Alice Komohanj Kauka to describe the case as among the rarest of the rare and ultimately impose the death sentence?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

You see, under the Uganda's sentencing guidelines, a court may only impose death where life imprisonment is demonstrably inadequate. In other words, death is not supposed to be a routine punishment. It is meant for cases where the brutality, calculation, and consequences of the crime shock the conscience of society. Children, they are defenseless. They can't hurt a person. Basically, they are the most vulnerable members of the society. And secondly, that the killings were spontaneous. You see, the court found evidence suggesting planning and deliberation. On the first day of April and the second day of April, this man was in the same place twice. He rightly directed himself, he operated a motor vehicle, he opened the right door of the car. Something really that is unsuggestive of a person who has got a mental illness or a psychiatric illness. At least there should have been perhaps glitches and glapses of the human normal motor skill that you would expect. A person driving a car from Chanja to Gabba with all those traffic lights, motorists on the road. I think that stability alone, as weighed, as rightly weighed by the judge in the decision, those are not something that you would expect a person with a psychiatric illness to be able to do. And then you will see in uh the decision of the learned justice, in those aggravation factors, they also include that um, away from suggestion of planning and deliberation, Okello had three knives carried in the school. The day of the 2nd of April, when he went to the school, he had two knives in his uh stockings, and then the other knife, the one that he was arrested with.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

The judge also affirmed Okelo's right to appeal against both the conviction and the sentence within 14 days, but behind the weight of that sentence lies another reality. Uganda has not executed anyone in more than two decades. According to Uganda Prisons spokesperson Frank Baine, the death penalty still exists within Uganda's legal framework, but it has not been enforced because only the president can sign a death warrant authorizing executions, and that power has not been exercised since 1999. Baine said the president has declined to sign execution warrants based on personal beliefs against taking life. And he added that if the president chose to sign, executions would proceed according to the law. Legally and practically, does the death penalty still serve as an effective punishment or deterrent within Uganda's justice system?

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Personally, as an individual, I think with Uganda's legal position today, it reflects a little bit of compromise. Yes. After the decision of the Supreme Court in Suzanne Kigula 416 versus the Attorney General, that court in the Supreme Court, it agreed with the decision of the Court of Appeal that the death penalty remains constitutional but not mandatory. Because before the sentencing to death, that case rightly argued by Professor Katende, Sim Katende, and then Frederick. Their argument was that our Ugandan laws, the imposition of a death penalty was mandatory, and the court of appeal said no, that was unconstitutional. But then the death penalty itself would remain constitutional. The Court of Appeal agreed with that position and saved the Supreme Court. So the death penalty as it is written in our law books is imposed but discretionary in the rarest of the rarest circumstances, like these of Okello for children. I do remember uh candidly the argument of uh the state attorney. He he noted that uh the Honorable Justice Mike Chibita, then uh serving at the High Court in Katok in Uganda versus Katoka Jury. He said, test the man for killing only one child to suffer to life imprisonment. How about a man that has killed four?

SPEAKER_01 8:27

The ruling also established that if a prisoner is not executed within three years after exhausting all appeals, the death sentence is automatically commuted to a 50-year prison term. According to Baine, there were originally 102 inmates who qualified for commutation, but nine have since been removed from death row after meeting the three-year threshold and having their sentences reduced to 50 years in prison. Currently, Uganda has 93 inmates on death row, including two women, and all are still undergoing the appeals process. Uganda's last execution took place on April 27, 1999. Hajj Musa Sebirumbi was hanged at Luzira Upper Prison. Sebirumbi was a former Uganda People's Congress chairperson and operative of the Obote Air National Security Agency, commonly known as NASA. He had been convicted on multiple counts of murder linked to the Luero Triangle conflict. One of the major charges involved the 1981 killing of Edidian Muchibi Lutamaguze, who reportedly refused under torture to reveal the whereabouts of Yower Mseveni and his fighters. Witnesses testified that Sebirumbi dragged Lutamaguze from his house, assaulted him, and fatally struck him. After nearly a decade on death row, Sebirumbi was executed alongside 27 other inmates for the 1981 killings in Kikandwa village Semuto. When asked what role the prison hangman has played since executions stopped in 1999, Baine explained that the hangman is still a prison officer but is now assigned other special duties in the absence of executions. The sentencing of Okelo has reignited wider global and national debate about whether the death penalty should still exist. How does Uganda balance Article 22 of the constitution which allows deprivation of life in accordance with the law against growing international and local human rights pressure to abolish capital punishment?

SPEAKER_00 11:01

There is a process, and all these are safeguards. Like I have rightly stated, part of the safeguards of this right, of taking away this right, is under Article 121. That even before execution, a report must be written to the prerogative of Marsi Committee to consider whether this person was remorseful, uh, could be rehabilitated into society to see to it that the execution is not uh currently done. What has changed is that that now courts insist that the punishment of death must be imposed sparingly, carefully, and with full judicial discretion. What I can agree with as a person, the death penalty as imposed now should be restricted to only punishments where a life is taken on the other end. But where we have in our sentencing guidelines, we have a death penalty for rape and defilement, aggravations, which I believe perhaps that argument can be had. But where a life is taken, then a death penalty upon confirmation of the Supreme Court, a death penalty should ensue.

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Doreen Chazay, the regional director for Sub-Saharan Africa at Penal Reform International, also argued that the death penalty has never been reliably proven to deter criminal behavior effectively. Not everyone agrees that the death penalty should be abolished entirely. Crispin Kahero, a member of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, said Uganda has taken a cautious approach by retaining the death penalty in law while avoiding executions since 1999. From a human rights perspective, he said that the focus must remain on due process, fairness, and proportionality.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

On my last question, since Justice Komhanji affirmed Okello's right to appeal within 14 days, what possible legal grounds could his defense team raise at the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court to challenge either the conviction or the sentence itself? Interesting. Yes, there could be some grounds that perhaps he could try and exploit. And uh with the ingenuity of lawyers, perhaps they could come up with uh uh several grounds to appeal the decision. If I'm to just think out loud, play the devil's advocate. One is perhaps they may argue that the trial court wrongly rejected the insanity defense or fell to sufficiently appreciate the ministry's possibility. Perhaps they might uh challenge uh whether the prosecution proved the precise intent necessary to justify a death sentence. Also, maybe could argue that the sentence itself was very excessive and that life imprisonment would have been sufficient punishment. And uh perhaps, lastly, uh uh they could uh they may raise concerns about the impact of the massive public attention surrounding the open trial, uh, arguing that the publicity risked undermining the perception of impartiality, given the trial as in a public place. But which other place would be better to try a person than a place where he committed the offense?

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Thank you so much, Joshua Biyamazima.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

And that's it for this episode of New Vision CSI Crime Stories Podcast and Razia Uhman. Does the death sentence still carry weight? was originally published in the New Vision written by Michael Oteng and Farouk Kasule. Thank you for listening.