Byasigaraho Wilson, Cpl. v Uganda [2004] UGSC 11

Supreme Court · 2004 Appeal Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download

Jurisdiction

Uganda

Case Type

Second criminal appeal from Court of Appeal affirming High Court conviction and death sentence

Decision

Appeal dismissed; conviction and death sentence for aggravated robbery and murder confirmed.

The full judgment

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AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions — always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The Supreme Court dismissed a second appeal against conviction for aggravated robbery and murder. It held that the appellant's confession was voluntary and admissible: the assault he relied on was a beating by a crowd chasing him after the offences were reported, not coercion by the police officer to whom he confessed. The confession was corroborated, including by the appellant revealing the location of the murder weapon known only to the user, and by the evidence of PW3 and PW4. Even if PW3 was an accomplice, his evidence was amply corroborated. The trial court properly evaluated, and the Court of Appeal correctly re-evaluated, the evidence. There was ample evidence to support the conviction and the appeal had no merit.

Facts

The appellant was indicted in the High Court at Fort Portal for aggravated robbery and murder. He made a charge and caution statement to a police officer, AIP Katabarwa, which the courts treated as a confession. The appellant claimed the confession was the product of a beating, but the assault on him was inflicted by a crowd that was chasing him after the murder and robbery had been reported, before he made the statement to the police. In the confession the appellant revealed the whereabouts of the murder weapon, a fact only the user could have known. The evidence of PW3 and PW4 corroborated the confession; PW3's evidence was said to be that of an accomplice. The High Court convicted and sentenced the appellant to death. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal, and he appealed further to the Supreme Court.

Issues

Whether the appellant's charge and caution statement was a voluntary and admissible confession given his claim that he had been beaten beforehand.
Whether the conviction could stand having regard to the evidence of PW3 as an alleged accomplice.
Whether the courts below erred in their evaluation of the evidence.

Orders

Appeal dismissed.

Key headnotes

Confessions — Voluntariness — Assault by third parties before the statement

A confession is voluntary and admissible where any assault on the accused was inflicted by a crowd pursuing him before he made the statement, rather than by the police officer to whom the confession was made.

Confessions — Corroboration — Disclosure of facts known only to the perpetrator

A confession is strongly corroborated where the accused reveals the whereabouts of the murder weapon, a fact only the perpetrator could have known.

Accomplice evidence — Corroboration — Effect of amply corroborated accomplice testimony

Where the evidence of a witness alleged to be an accomplice is amply corroborated, any question over whether it should have been disregarded does not advance the defence and does not vitiate the conviction.

Legislation cited (4)

Penal Code Act s.272
Penal Code Act s.273(2)
Penal Code Act s.183
Penal Code Act s.184

Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.