The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Lira, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Lira Chief Magistrates court has remanded a man who was captured on video torturing an expectant woman. Hilary Owino appeared before the Lira Chief Magistrate, Zeneba Natukunda on Monday where he was charged with torture and was remanded to prison until May 13, 2021.
Natukunda decided to remand the suspect after the Resident State Attorney, Jacinta Kkaya told the court that investigations into the matter are complete and they are ready for the trial. According to court records, trouble for Owino started in June 2018, when he appeared in a video that went viral on social media pouring water on a naked expectant woman in Bar-Opuu ward, Adekokwok sub-county in the then Lira municipality.
The torture victim was later identified as Rose Acen, who was being accused by Margret Alum, a social worker at Lira Regional Referral Hospital and her sister Esther Amolo, for alleged theft of a mobile phone and money. The duo had invited Achen to help them harvest groundnuts. The accused persons recorded Acen being flogged in front of her child who was standing on the veranda of their house.
They went ahead to share the video footage on social media in which Achen was heard wailing in pain in Luo while a group of men and women cheered in the background drawing outrage from the public and human rights activists in Lango sub-region.
This led to the arrest of Alum and her sister Amolo and subsequent prosecution in court. However, Owino has been on the run until last week when he was arrested by security.
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