Three Justices Assigned to Hear Okello Onyum Appeal

What the report says

Christopher Okello Onyum has moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge his April conviction and death sentence for the killing of four toddlers at a daycare centre in Ggaba, Kampala. According to Nile Post, three justices — Christopher Gashirabake, Eva K. Luswata and John Mike Musisi — have been assigned to hear the case, with the allocation issued through the Judiciary’s Electronic Court Case Management Information System on November 10.

The appeal concerns the High Court judgment delivered after a closely followed trial arising from the April 2, 2026 attacks at Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre in Makindye Division. The children named in the report were all under three years old. The prosecution case, as summarized by Nile Post, relied on witness accounts, CCTV footage, call records, psychiatric assessments, DNA evidence and evidence of the accused’s conduct before and during the incident.

In his memorandum of appeal, filed through the Uganda Law Society’s Legal Aid Project, Okello argues that the trial court misread the evidence, mishandled medical evidence about his mental condition, and imposed an excessive sentence. He is asking the appellate court to quash the convictions, overturn the death sentences, or reduce them.

The case matters because it will test how the Court of Appeal reviews the High Court’s handling of the insanity defence and the evidence used to establish criminal responsibility in one of Uganda’s most prominent murder cases. Onyx? The original report says the trial court rejected the insanity defence and imposed death sentences on all four counts, findings that are now subject to appellate scrutiny.