UGANDAN WOMAN DENIES KILLING MOTHER AND BABY

A Ugandan woman accused of killing a mother and her three month old baby has pleaded not guitly to the two counts of murder.

Jackline Auma was on Wednesday presented before Judge Fred Ochieng at the Kisumu Law Courts. She was accused of killing Elizabeth Ochieng Ojwang and baby  Benedict Okoth at Shauri Yako Estate in Muhoroni, Kisumu County.

Before being presented to take plea, Auma had to undergo mental tests to ascertain whether she was in the right state of mind to undergo trial.

Auma later claimed that she only spoke and understood the Ugandan language therefore making the plea taking delayed for a while. It took the intervention of her advocate Joy Ayieta to convince her to allow the court clerk to read the charge sheet in Swahili.

Having fled to Uganda after allegedly committing the crime, the prosecution led by Peter Muia strongly opposed a plea for the accused to be released on bond saying she was a flight risk.

Justice Fred Ochieng later ruled that she is a flight risk and denied her bail until her case comes up for hearing on November 6.

“Considering that the accused was arrested in Uganda where she fled to after the occurrence of the incident which gave rise to this case, I find that it constitutes a compelling reason for not granting bail to the accused at least for now,” he stated.

The Judge further ordered the prosecution to provide the defence with all the witnesses statements within seven days.

 

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