Uganda sentences man to death for killing four young children at nursery school

A Ugandan court sentenced a man to death on Thursday for killing four young children this month at a nursery school, in an attack that sparked public outrage and concern for pupils' safety in the East African country.



The judge said an investigation of Christopher Okello Onyum's phone and laptop had found searches including "schools near me" and "ISIS beheading", a reference to the Islamic State group.



In the attack, which took place on April 2 at a nursery school in the capital Kampala, 39-year-old Onyum stabbed his four victims - toddlers aged two and three years old - before a guard subdued him, police said.



Angry parents tried to lynch him before he was detained.



Onyum had pleaded not guilty to murder, and one of his lawyers had argued that he should be acquitted because he had long been mentally unstable and had been committed to a psychiatric hospital.