Three held for murder of their brother in Lamwo district

Lamwo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The police in Lamwo district has arrested three suspects in connection to the death of their biological brother.

The suspects identified as Thomas Bongomin 29, Wilson Lutare Salaama 36, and Willy Okot 46, were arrested on Tuesday evening after their brother identified as Geoffrey Okane 35, was found dead in his house in Amuja South village in Padibe West sub-county.

According to police, the deceased was reportedly assaulted earlier on Tuesday by the trio after he had attempted to harm their mother. Ventorina Lalam, 63, one of their relatives told the police that trouble started on Monday after the deceased stopped her mother from attending a ceremony organized by his aunt in the same village for unclear reasons.

She said that the deceased had also threatened to kill her if she went to the ceremony. But the mother defied him and attended the event, and for fear of being harmed at night, she spent a night at her other son’s house after the ceremony. But when she returned on Tuesday morning, her son attacked her attracting the attention of his three siblings who came in to rescue her.

According to Lalam, Okane was tied with a rope and locked in his grass-thatched hut where however he was found dead later in the day. Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson Jimmy Patrick Okema says police has picked up the three suspects who are now detained at Lamwo central police station.

Okema says the deceased’s body was taken to Padibe health centre IV for postmortem while a case of murder has been registered at Lamwo central police station.

Acholi sub-region has lately registered a spike in murder cases with records from the police now indicating 34 murders only within a space of two months since the year began. The murder cases are mostly attributed to domestic brawls, unsettled family disputes and land wrangle among others.

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