Andrew Odata, a former Ong’aroi assistant chief Okame location in Teso South sub-county, Busia county, will be spending the rest of his life behind bars for inciting arson attack.
Odata was arrested and arraigned in court on June 13, 2016. His case has dragged in court for four years until Friday November 6th when it was determined.
The former assistant incited villagers to burn down the homestead of one Francis Ong’amo on claims that the latter bewitched his younger brother who passed on June 6th, 2016.
Odata was arrested alongside 10 other people, who were later released when the court determined their innocence.
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The accused was charged with nine counts, including setting several houses and a church on fire.
Senior Principal Magistrate Patrick Olengo found the assistant chief guilty of five count, saying there was no evidence to support four other charges against the accused.
The magistrate sentenced the former assistant chief to 23 years imprisonment on each of the five counts he was found guilty of. The sentences run concurrently meaning the accused was will spend 115 years in prison.
In his ruling, Senior Principal Magistrate Olengo said that victims of the crime had not gone back to their home. And that they relied on the assistant chief for their security but he betrayed them by deciding to take sides in a dispute.
The victim one Mr. Ong’amo and members of his family have been camping at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Alupe since June 14th, 2016.
Mr Ong’amo’s eldest son said a mob raided their home on the night on June 12, 2016 and razed all the houses and the church which was in the compound.
The Ong’amos attributed the arson attack to a land dispute and not witchcraft claim as the assistant chief had said.
The victims are still worried about resettlement, fearing that they might be attacked again because they are blamed for the assistance chief’s long prison term.
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