Prosecution told court that the suspects and others still at large on November 23 2023 entered upon the cattle farm in possession of Rutomol Enoc with intent to intimidate, insult or annoy the farm owner.
The Chief Magistrates Court in
Gulu City has remanded 12 suspects to Gulu Main Prison for illegally raiding a cattle
farm.
The suspects were arrested on
Thursday last week from Paipeno village in Owalo Sub-county in Gulu District by
the army after illegally gaining access to the cattle farm belonging to
Rutomol Enoc.
They were charged with two counts
of criminal trespass and conspiracy to commit a felony and appeared on Monday afternoon for plea-taking before Said Barigye, the Gulu Chief Magistrate.
The suspects however denied all the
charges against them. They include Patrick Okello Onguti, Owen Chris Okoya,
Owalo Sub-county LCIII Chairperson, Wilberforce Okongo, Christopher Rackara,
Jolly Kidega, Christopher Nyero, Kenneth Orach, Pope Opoka, Justine Okumu,
Michael Otto, John Oloya, and Brian Rubangakene.
The prosecution told the court that the
suspects and others still at large on November 23 2023 entered the cattle
farm in possession of Rutomol Enoc with intent to intimidate, insult or annoy
the farm owner. On count two, the state noted that the suspects on the same
date conspired together to commit a felony to wit criminal trespass upon
Rutomol Enoc cattle farm.
Kyamugisha Kasurumu, the state
attorney told the court that the investigation into the case was complete
and asked the court to start hearing.
The accused defense lawyer led by
Tony Kitara however applied for bail for the suspects arguing that they had overstayed in Police Custody beyond the 48-hour mandated period required by
the law.
He presented 15 sureties for the suspects who included Betty Aol Ocan,
the Gulu City Woman Member of Parliament, Kelly Komakech, the former LCIII
Chairperson Pece Division, and Denis Owachgui, the LCIV Councilor for Iriaga
Ward in Bardege-Layibi Division among others.
Although the State Prosecutor
didn’t object to the bail application by the suspects' lawyers, she
asked the court to deny them bail arguing she needed time to verify the
documents before she responded for court to make a ruling.
She noted that two of
the suspects had missing National Identity Cards which are prerequisites for
bail and asked the court for a one-week period to study all the documents tendered
before the court by the defense lawyers.
Gulu Chief Magistrate Said
Barigye however gave the state attorney only a day to review the bail
application documents before adjourning the hearing to Tuesday
for the final bail application ruling.
Tony Kitara, the suspects' lawyer
however told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that they made bail
applications for all the accused persons but noted the directorate of public prosecution
requested for more time to review the bail application documents.
//Cue in: “we made application…
Cue out:…have been remanded.”//
He also noted that while 12
suspects were arraigned in court, five others who were charged with malicious
damage to properties belonging to a cattle farmer weren’t presented in court.
//Cue in: “The suspects were…
Cue out:…desist from it.”//
Earlier on Monday, MPs from the Acholi Sub-region protested the arrest and lengthy detention of the
suspects in police custody and accused the government of shielding cattle
keepers commonly referred to as balaalo.
The protest came nearly a week after
the expiry of the presidential order on the eviction of non-defiant cattle
keepers from Northern Uganda by November 24.
According to the State Minister
for Northern Uganda Rehabilitation Grace Freedom Kwiyucwyiny, there are an
estimated 80,000 herds of cattle being kept by non-defiant cattle keepers in
North and Northeastern Uganda.
