Soroti Chief Magistrate succumbs to blood pressure

Soroti Chief Magistrate Margaret Aanyu is dead, the Judiciary announced yesterday.

According to sources, Magistrate Aanyu,54, succumbed to cardiac arrest following a long battle with high blood pressure at Kampala Hospital in Kololo.

“This is to announce the death of Her Worship Aanyu Margaret, Chief Magistrate Soroti, which occurred this morning at Kampala hospital. Funeral arrangements to be announced later,” the Judiciary announced in a brief statement.

Speaking to this publication, Justice Henry Peter Adonyo, the resident Judge of Soroti High Court, who has been closely working with the late magistrate, said he was last with her on Thursday when they exchanged pleasantries in his chambers.

He said the magistrate, who has been at the station since 2021, looked fine when she came to his chambers.

“The problem started on Thursday evening after a meeting in my chambers. When she went back to her home, she broke down at around 6:30pm. The following day on Friday, her blood pressure shot up and when an office supervisor took her documents to sign in the evening, she was not responding, and when her door was forced open, they got her lying on the floor with her eyes wide open,” Justice Adonyo said in a telephone interview last evening.

“They contacted me and I advised that an ambulance be got and she is rushed to the hospital. She was rushed to a private hospital and later into an ICU. While they were taking her to Kampala, oxygen ran out around Kumi but it was refilled. They reached Kampala hospital yesterday (Saturday). The doctors tried to drain blood in her brain,” Justice Adonyo said.

He added that while the doctors were preparing to refer her for specialised attention at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday morning (Saturday), that is when she suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

Justice Adonyo described Aanyu as hard-working, a pro-people person, and very respectful of others.

“I have not only worked with her only here in Soroti but also when I was the Chief Registrar, I caused her transfer from Matugga court to Nakawa court and she would remain in office up to 9pm.”Justice Adonyo recollects of Magistrate Aanyu.

Veteran journalist Onapito Ekomoloit, whose marriage with Aanyu collapsed many years ago, said they were to meet as a family. They had a son together.