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Ugandan Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Four Children in Kampala Nursery Attack

The fast-tracked open-air trial raised due-process concerns in a country that rarely carries out executions.

Overview

  • The High Court, which ruled Thursday, imposed the death penalty on Christopher Okello Onyum after rejecting his insanity plea.
  • Police said he posed as a parent, locked the nursery gate, and stabbed four toddlers in under seven minutes before a guard subdued him.
  • The judge cited phone and laptop searches for “schools near me” and “ISIS beheading” as proof of planning.
  • Prosecutors said he confessed and cast the killings as a “human sacrifice” to gain wealth, though the court found no clear political or religious motive.
  • President Yoweri Museveni ordered a mobile court that drew cheering crowds as the judiciary defended the speed, while the Uganda Law Society called it a “judicial lynching rally,” and executions in Uganda are rare.