A 29-year-old boda-boda rider, Kasid Omua, has killed his father in a fight suspected to be over land at Okuvua Village in Kuluva Parish, Vurra Sub-county in Arua District.
Omua reportedly killed his father cum driver to the bishop of Madi and West Nile dioceses, Naphtali Onjunda, 60, on September 28, 2020.
The West Nile regional police spokesperson, Ms Josephine Angucia, told this website that the suspect was digging around the family compound when bickering developed between him and his father at around 6pm.
The police officer said that Onjunda rushed brandishing a hoe at his son but lost target providing chance to Omua who hit him on the head with a hoe. Onjunda was rushed to Kuluva Hospital in Arua from where he was pronounced dead shortly.
Immediately after learning of his father’s death, Omua handed himself to Arua police station where he is currently detained.
Police visited the scene and efforts to take the body to Arua regional referral hospital for postmortem hit a snag after the deceased’s relatives turned violent and refused to hand it over, according to Ms Angucia.
“We gave them a go ahead for the burial today (Wednesday) in the same village upon refusal to have postmortem conducted,” she narrated.
Ms Angucia said that preliminary investigations reveal that the deceased had for long been involved in altercations with his children demanding a share of the land.
“According to a neighbour, the deceased’s children including the suspect have been at loggerheads with their deceased father demanding a share of the land,” she said.
Adding: “It has been a while now that the deceased has been embroiled in a bitter exchange of words with his children over land and of course this comes in as a result of people monetising land,” Ms Angucia said.
The police officer disclosed that there is an upsurge in land cases in the region unlike in the past where families viewed land as a communal asset adding that today everyone wants to personalise their pieces of land and have full ownership and control rights over it including the right to sell it off.
“In fact, land has become one of the most common causes of conflict and often we register many cases of fights with some being grievous while others turning to be fatal,” said Ms Angucia.
The police spokesperson said that Omua will be arraigned before court to defend himself against murder once investigations are complete.
The law
Article 188 of the Penal Code Act says that any person who of malice aforethought causes the death of another person by an unlawful act or omission commits murder and shall be sentenced to death as maximum punishment.
