The Court of Appeal has named three judges to hear an appeal by death row inmate Christopher Okello Onyum, against his death sentence.
The Judiciary in an ECCMIS allocation notice issued on November 10th 2026, announced that the appeal, registered as Case No. COA-00-CR-CN-0288-2026, has been allocated to Justices Christopher Gashirabake, Eva K. Luswata, and John Mike Musisi.
Onyum was on April 30th convicted of four counts of murder after the High Court, found him guilty of entering Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre and fatally stabbed four pupils.
However, Onyum appealed the death sentence in a memorandum of appeal dated June 12th 2026 before the Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn the decision of Justice Alice Komuhangi Khaukha on April 30th, noting that she failed to properly assess the evidence before reaching a guilty verdict.
Okello was sentenced to death for the murders of Eteku Gideon, Keisha Ageno Ruth, Sseruyange Ignatius and Odeke Rayan.
However in his appeal, Okello stated that the trial judge’s failure to properly assess evidence led to the miscarriage of justice, and further challenged the courts’ rejection of his mental illness at the time of the killings, which led to it arriving at a wrong judgement.
Okello also challenged his death sentence as an excessive punishment, which should be reduced or set aside.
While sentencing Okello, Justice Komuhangi said she took into consideration a number of factors including the prosecution evidence, the defence mitigation requests, and the fact that Okello wasn’t remorseful for his actions.
She further noted that the case fell among the rarest of the rare cases, since Okello committed the murders as blood sacrifice for wealth, he meticulously planned and premediated the killings in which he attacked defenceless innocent children on April 02nd, who depend on adults for their protection and survival, among other things to pass the sentence.
“I agree with the prosecution that this case falls in the rarest of the rare, the probation officer informed court that he heard from the community that such offences has never happened in the area, having said that, the convict must be given a sentence that will not speak to him but also to his friend of his that he refused to disclose and any people out there who believe in sacrificing blood for wealth” she said.
Justice Komuhangi noted that in light of the circumstances found in the case, she didn’t find any reason as to why she shouldn’t sentence Okello, to the maximum penalty of death.
“I hereby sentence you to suffer death for the murder of Eteku Gideon in count one, Keisha Ageno Ruth in count two, Sseruyange Ignatius in count three, and Odeke Rayan in count four, in a manner authorised by law” she said.
The three justices will now determine whether the trial court’s evaluation of the evidence was legally sound and whether there are sufficient grounds to interfere with the convictions or sentences.
