The trial of Christopher Okello Onyum, accused of killing four children in a nursery in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, opens this Monday, April 13, 2026. Although the accused admitted to the acts, according to the prosecution, he ultimately pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
A Ugandan man accused of stabbing four young children to death at a kindergarten in an attack that horrified the nation pleaded not guilty to murder as his trial opened on Monday.
Christopher Okello Onyum, who was arrested while trying to flee the scene of the crime on April 2, denied all four murder charges.
Prosecutors stated at a previous hearing that Onyum had confessed to killing the four children, aged 15 months to two and a half years, believing that this “human sacrifice” would help him become rich.
The tribunal – sitting in tents specially erected to accommodate the public – heard the chilling testimony of an employee of the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Centre.
“At first, I thought he was hitting a child. When I asked him why he was hitting our children, before he could answer, I saw Kaisha (one of the victims) against a wall, in a pool of blood ,” she said.
“He stood up, knife in hand; he was so quick that he immediately grabbed another child. I took one of the bikes the children were using and threw it at him.”
“When I threw the bike at him, he dropped the child and started running after me. I ran, but then I fell. When I got up, I discovered that he had stabbed the second child.”
The parents of the victims also testified, 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.
One of them, Stella Apolot, mother of murder victim Gideon Eteku, fainted immediately after testifying.
The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday.
