Oyam ‘thief’ insults Lira City residents, lynched quickly

Lira—1, September 2020: A suspected thief was last evening lynched in Te-obia village, Lira City East Division allegedly by the area locals.

The mob descended on the suspect at around 8:00 pm, according to local sources who spoke to TND News’ Team at the scene of crime Tuesday morning.

“I heard an alarm last evening as I was about to go to bed and I suspected people were shouting over a thief or something was wrong,” a woman in the neighborhood who preferred anonymity narrated, Tuesday.

According to this source, the suspected thief was, after his interception asked “what he was doing around there” especially at dusk “but instead of availing the concerned residents with relevant information about himself, he started hurling insults at people.”

“This infuriated the mob who descended on him and beat him to death,” she added.

But before he died, he revealed that he is a carpenter in Lira City and a local of Oyam district.

TND News’ Team further reports that he (a suspected robber) was this morning found lifeless around the office premise of Child Restoration Outreach and Transparency International Uganda.

A ‘source’ at Transparency International office says, while coming to office this morning, he saw a crowd gathered “observing the dead body lying in between sticks, and was found opposite his workplace”.

He adds that some neighbors told him the deceased jumped in to the fence in the area and was trying to steal with his friends, but unfortunately when they alerted the community his friends disappeared and left him and “that’s when he met his death”.

A mechanic we spoke to, only referring to himself as Rogers, and operating at a nearby garage, says most times thieves have been stealing their property.

He says fortunately one has never fallen in to their hands.

Local council one chairperson of the area was not readily available for comments.

Detectives from Lira Central Police Station were called to the scene this morning to investigate the cause of his death, police also arrested a young man who was trying to interfere with the investigation by shouting and distracting the police

Police picked the dead body and took to the mortuary at Lira Regional Referral Hospital for a postmortem.

Te-Obia has been on the spotlights over a series of criminal activities in recent years, and the Acting Lira City East Division Mayor, Emmy Joe Odongo, has severally warned residents to be alert and cooperate with authorities to weed out such criminals.

Several boda riders have lost their motorcycles in the past while some were harmed by thieves around Te-Obia, especially during night hours.

Reporting By Isabela Awor & Frank Oyugi.

Editorial: newsroom@tndnewsug.com or tndnews2012@gmail.com Publication’s WhatsApp No. +256 752 169 448.