School Director Alleges Police Tampered with CCTV Evidence in Nursery Pupil Murder Case

Susan Vivian Ariokot, director of Jozan Nursery and Primary School and one of six individuals accused in the murder of six-year-old pupil Joan Faith Apio, has raised concerns in court that police may have tampered with her mobile phone. The phone allegedly contained CCTV footage that Ariokot intended to use to prove her innocence.

Ariokot, along with headteacher James Edoket, cook Valentine Opio, matron Osula Adong, and police officer John Bosco Obotol, faces charges related to the death of Apio, a first-year pupil at the school. Apio was discovered deceased in the school’s latrine on February 5, 2025.

The defense team informed the court that they had been unsuccessful in obtaining CCTV footage from Pride Bank and Soroti Regional Referral Hospital, which they considered vital for the case. Instead, they sought to rely on footage from Ariokot’s personal shop, which they believe would demonstrate she was at her business premises and not at the school when the murder occurred.

During a court session, Justice Boniface Wamala ordered Ariokot to identify and charge the phone containing the CCTV system data within the court premises for footage retrieval. However, after the phone was charged, Ariokot’s lawyer reported that the footage, including evidence of her alibi, was missing from the device. Ariokot also stated that other recordings she had previously submitted to the regional police commander’s office were also gone.

Ariokot recounted that she voluntarily went to the police with three phones on February 11, 2025, to present evidence of her innocence, including playing the CCTV footage for officers before the phones were seized. She accused the scene-of-crime officer of mishandling her devices and accessing the footage improperly.

In response to the defense’s concerns about the missing evidence, Justice Wamala has ordered Pride Bank’s headquarters in Kampala to release CCTV footage from February 5, 2025. Ariokot’s lawyers are instructed to travel to Kampala to serve the bank with this order, with the case adjourned to August 12, 2026, for the continuation of the defense hearing.

Source: https://observer.ug/news/nursery-pupil-murder-suspect-claims-police-tampered-with-cctv-evidence