Court charges City 5 gin manufacturers with manslaughter

Police in Arua have handed over three people thought to be behind the manufacture of the deadly City 5 to face charges in court.

The three suspects will face charges of manufacturing, possession and sell of a local waragi branded as City 5.

This arraignment followed the sanctioning of the case file by Resident State Attorney Arua.

According police, the RSA advised that one suspect called Philliam Cadribo 28 years, the Disco Jockey (DJ) who was arrested while playing music at the place of manufacturing City5 was to be set free.

On the other side, two of the suspects namely Rose Inzikuru aged 40 years and Gideon Adule 45 years were charged with manslaughter as they suspectedly caused death by manufacturing a drink which is harmful to the human body.

This was confirmed by regional spokesperson Josephine Angucia in an update to this website.

Meanwhile, all the three including Norman Godfrey, the owner of the Shop in Mvara area in Arua City, from which victims bought City 5 waragi which suspectedly intoxicated them, were charged with manufacturing, selling, distribution and possession of products not conforming to the standard specification under UNBS Act.

“The casefile was sanctioned by the Resident State Attorney Arua, and was forwarded with the three suspects to Arua Court for trials,” she said.

It should be recalled that the four suspects were arrested on August 21, following an incident of sudden death of twelve (12) people in Arua City and Madi-okollo district due to suspected poisoning after drinking City 5 local waragi.

The gin also left twenty people intoxicated and are still admitted for treatment at Arua Regional Referral hospital.

Angucia further said that this case was at first registered as general inquiries but upon advise of the Resident State Attorney, it changed to criminal file vide Arua CRB 869/2022.

She also urged all product manufacturers, distributors, sellers and the general public to ensure that the products they deal in or consume always conform to the standard specification of the Uganda National Buereau of Standards(UNBS), in order to prevent repeat of such deadly incidences.

“We warn those members of the business community or other members of the general public who continue to deal in substandard products minus conforming to the standard product specifications under UNBS Act that when found, they will be arrested and prosecuted according to the law,” she said.