Uganda kindergarten attacker sentenced to death

A Ugandan-American man was sentenced to death on Thursday over the murder of four young children he stabbed to death at a kindergarten in Uganda's capital.

Christopher Okello Onyum was arrested on 2 April as he tried to flee the daycare centre in Kampala, where he killed the tiny children, aged between 15 months to two-and-a-half years.

Prosecutors said Onyum, who holds Ugandan and US citizenship, confessed to the crime, believing the "human sacrifice" would help him become rich, although he eventually pleaded not guilty in court.

The judge rejected a claim of insanity, saying the "accurate and precise manner" of the killings made it clear it was pre-planned.

"I hereby sentence him to suffer death," she said in court, to cheers from the public.

"He targeted them in their defenceless state and went ahead to slaughter them like animals... and had no fear, no shame, no consideration for human life," she added.

"I have also considered that the convict has not shown any remorse at all, because I would have at least expected an apology from him to the families of the babies."

The court heard that Onyum had searched online for Islamic State beheadings and local schools with young children.

But it was not clear if there was any political or religious motivation for the attack.

The court earlier heard chilling testimony, including from a staff member at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre.

"At first I thought he was beating a child.

"When I asked him why he was beating our children, before he responded I saw Kaisha (one of the victims) against a wall in the pool of blood," she told the court at the start of the trial.

"He got up and he had a knife in his hand. He was so quick that he immediately grabbed another child.

"I got one of the bicycles the children used. I threw it at him.

"When I threw the bicycle at him he left the child and started running after me. I ran but I later fell down. When I got up I found out he had cut the second child."

The victims' parents also gave evidence, describing their last morning with their children before taking them to kindergarten, the phone call informing them of the attack and the discovery of the bodies at the hospital.

Uganda’s death penalty originated as a colonial tool, which mandated capital punishment for various offenses. Although still codified for crimes such as murder, aggravated robbery, and terrorism, the country has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions for over two decades.

The last executions occurred in 2005, just before the Supreme Court’s landmark abolished mandatory death sentences and opened avenues for commutation.

While courts continue to impose capital sentences, the state has not executed an offender since that decision.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Staff, May 1, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

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