Angry Residents Lynch One, Burn Car As Accomplices Escape

Residents of Bidena Trading centre in Onyala parish, Namukora North Sub County in Kitgum district on Tuesday night descended on a group of suspected thieves and lynched one and torched their car.    

The suspected thieves believed to be five in number, had embarked on a shop breaking spree between midnight and 1:00am and had stolen produce and merchandise worth millions of shillings.   

The Namukora Urban Council III Chairperson Kenneth Nyero Nyokcek reveals that the thugs reportedly broke into a shop belonging to Jimmy Komakech in the town council and made off with a bag of simsim before proceeding to Onyala trading centre where they stole two bags of simsim. 

Nyokcek says the suspects later went to Bidena trading centre in Namukora North Sub County where they broke into a shop belonging to Patrick Olweny and stole seven bags of simsim, an unspecified number of crates of beer and four jerrycans of crude potent gin.   

According to Nyokcek, their luck ran out after suspicious residents who upon learning of the looting later cornered the suspects, caught one and beat him to death while his four accomplices managed to escape into the dark.  The angry mob managed to recover the loot before torching the vehicle, a Toyota Ipsum registration number UBA 444U that the suspects were using. 

The deceased suspect's identity was not known since he never had any identification documents although a phone was recovered from him. 

//Cue in: "laworo dano mo....//

Cue out: .....Gulu i Layibi,"//

On Wednesday morning one of the suspects who had miraculously escaped the mob incident was apprehended by local residents of Mucwini Trading Centre while trying to escape towards Kitgum town and a mob started beating him but police rescued him. 

The survivor currently being held at Kitgum Central Police Station has been identified as Christopher Okello, a resident of Layibi division in Gulu City who allegedly confessed to being part of a gang that breaks into people’s shops and steals domestic animals at night in the villages. 

The Kitgum district police Commander Mansur Suwed condemned the incident and called on residents to refrain from taking the law into their hands but rather notify authorities for justice to take its course. 

Suwed however says police is investigating the matter and the phone recovered from the deceased is offering investigators some clues that will lead to the arrest of other accomplices still at large.