Police in Pader have today Wednesday, October 21, 2020, arrested and detained two people on charges of robbing and killing Evelyn Atoo, 65, resident of Alima East Village, Dure Parish, Latanya Sub-county in Pader District.
The Aswa River region police spokesman, Jimmy Patrick Okema, told this online news portal that Defore Odong and David Okello residents of the same village killed Atoo before robbing her of Shs3m.
The police officer said the duo committed the offence on Sunday, October 18, 2020, at around 9pm when they attacked the deceased, dragged her out of the house where she was living alone and hit her with a blunt object until she died.
Atoo, who was a progressive peasant farmer, had just sold 37 sacks of unshelled groundnuts three days back at Shs3m when the robbers attacked her.
Mr Okema said police have learnt that the suspects also had a long standing land dispute with the deceased. He added that immediately after committing the crime, the suspects disappeared from the village, thus, creating suspicion that led to their arrest.
A murder case under reference number CRB 568/2020 has been entered at Acholi bur police post.
“The scene was visited and a sketch map drawn as relevant photos taken including the statements obtained from witnesses and later postmortem conducted before the body was handed over to relatives for burial,” Mr Okema told our reporter.
However, Mr Okema said the police still cannot confirm what triggered the robbery but suspect it could have been fueled by the land wrangle.
Update to follow
“It’s a good move now that the suspects arrested had a long standing land dispute with the victim, which we believe will go along in helping us investigate the matter further,” the police officer added.
The law
Article 188 of the Penal Code Act states 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.
