A 17-year-old senior two student is under detention by police in Kampala upon arrest for allegedly announcing the Inspector General of Police, John Martins Okoth Ochola dead on Facebook.
Charles Twiine, the Criminal investigations Division Spokesperson, said that on September 22, 2021, a post on Facebook by an account under the name Brison Olywl Oz declared that Ochola had “ finally died” and that he should “ rest in peace” which prompted investigations into the matter.
“Our investigators from the Cyber unit working together with UCC followed up the case and found that the Facebook account had been opened using phone number, 0752813959 belonging to one, Fatumah Nakazibwe who was tracked and arrested,” Twiine said.
The CID spokesperson further revealed that upon interrogation, Nakazibwe denied having a Facebook account but said she would always give her phone to her son, one Mubarak Mubiru who was also arrested.
Following the arrest, Mubiru admitted to owning the Facebook account but claimed he used the phone with three other colleagues who could have been behind the post announcing the Police Chief dead.
Following the tip, police arrested Mubiru’s three other colleagues as investigations into the matter continued.
This is when the 17-year-old senior student retracted his statement and later confessed to being behind the post announcing IGP Ochola dead.
According to Twiine, after the investigations were completed, the Inspector General of Police as the complainant was informed and on realizing that the person behind the offence was a 17-year-old student, out of a parental heart, he advised that he should be forgiven since he is still a minor.
The CID spokesperson however noted that the file was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure that the charges of offensive communication slapped against the senior two student are formally dropped in accordance with the law.
He added that they are waiting for communication from DPP on dropping the charges, however, he warned parents to always be careful with their children and what they do.
Due to the increased vice of social media users declaring celebrities, public officials including the president dead, a number of people have been arrested and charged in courts of law.
