An assistant chief from Teso South in Busia County has been jailed for 115 years after he was found guilty of five counts.
Busia senior principal magistrate Patrick Olengo found Ong’aroi sub location Andrew Odato guilty for his involvement in violence that left at least thirty people homeless at Okame village in 2016.
The violence pitted two related families who accused each other of witchcraft and which led to the torching of over twenty houses and destruction of property.
The assistant chief was arrested by the police and later released on bond after he was accused of being behind the violence.
The affected family members have been living at Alupe division offices since then after they were threatened by the other group.
The magistrate in his ruling stated that the prosecution had proven the case beyond reasonable doubt, “When the houses were being burnt, he did not bother to find out what was going on despite being in-charge of the security of that particular area. He said he did not have the security but the torching of the houses started at about 8pm which time I do not think was not unsafe for him to move to the scene.”
Nine other people who had been sued alongside the assistant chief were set free by the court due to lack of evidence.
