Forensic evidence by the government analytical laboratory tendered at Gulu High Court by a prosecution witness has finally helped resolve a nine year old murder case of a 14- year old girl.
Scovia Anena’s dead body was found in the morning of December 29, 2006 along Gulu-Juba Highway.
A postmortem report indicated that the deceased’s body suffered multiple abrasion in the right lower chest, had a swollen right shoulder, internal bleeding and whitish vaginal discharge mixed with blood.
A police report indicated that Anena was raped before she was suffocated to death by her attacker.
Moses Onencan, now 30, who was her former lover and his friend one, Denis Okello also 30 were arrested as suspects in the murder.
The duo were arrested in December 2006 and traded accusation and counter accusation and blamed each other for the teenage girl. The suspects are residents of Kati- Kati village in Lamogi sub county in Amuru district.
In October 2010 the pair were released by high court in Gulu but have been reporting to court. When they the 23 of March during a special criminal special session of the high court, their bail was cancelled and they were taken to Gulu Central Prison.
Okello alleged that Onencan killed his girlfriend after she stole his clothes and a pair of shoes.
It took the police nine years to get results of the samples from the deceased and the two suspects.
In capital offences such as murder and rape, the presence of seminal fluid and spermatozoa is significant in proving sexual assault.
At the hearing before Gulu high court yesterday, Geoffrey Onen, a principal laboratory analyst with the government central forensic laboratory told court that samples he took from the deceased matched with that from Denis Okell0.
Onen told court that the strong biological materials found in the deceased’s vaginal discharge points to Okello as the prime suspects.
Lady Justice Margaret Mutonyi, after a final submission from both the defence and the prosecution convicted Denis Okello and sentenced him to 30 years in jail. The judge however released Moses Onencan.
Mutonyi ruled that both the forensic and circumstantial evidence presented before court pointed to Okello as the murderer.
William Bayo, the state prosecutor had asked the judge to hand Okello a life sentence.
