An 11-year-old pupil of Adeknino Primary school in Adeknino sub-county, Dokolo district has died while in police custody.
Solomon Opio, a resident of Alwar village was arrested together with two other minors on Tuesday 4th, April 2017 for allegedly stealing pop drink, a soft drink liked mostly by children, from a shop belonging to one Isaac Chandy at Adeknino Trading Centre.
Samuel Elyebu, the Officer In-charge of Adeknino Police Out-post said the deceased together with his two colleagues, were brought to the police by Chandy who accused them of theft.
Elyebu said this morning when they went to check on the suspects, they found Opio lying dead on the floor.
Ivan Ocen, 13, who was arrested together with the deceased and was detained in the same cell narrated to the police that Opio kept saying he wanted to go for a short call.
No one was there to open for them the cell when he collapsed at once. He said he thought the deceased was just tired and wanted to rest.
Meanwhile in his statement to police this morning, Chandy accused one Richard Okonye, a chapatti vendor at the trading centre of kicking Opio while he was being dragged to police.
Aminsi Kayondo Lukanga, the Dokolo District Police Commander, says it was wrong to arrest and detain those minors for such an offense he described as minor.
Kayondo has tasked the officer in charge of Adeknino police post to explain the circumstances under which these minors were held in police detention without informing his superior.
The deceased’s body is currently at Dokolo Health Centre IV for a postmortem. No arrest has so far been made.
At the time of filing this report, the police were still at the scene waiting for the parents of the deceased to arrive from the village.
Story credit- URN