Bainomugisha v Uganda (Criminal Appeal 20 of 2002)
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Holding
The appellant was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the High Court for killing his father; the Court of Appeal confirmed the conviction and sentence. On second appeal his sole surviving ground was that the Justices of Appeal had wrongly relied on the discredited evidence of three related witnesses (PW6, PW7 and PW8). The Supreme Court, having examined the record, held that the witnesses' relationship to the deceased was not a reason to reject their evidence, that it had been properly evaluated by both courts below, and that the appellant was properly convicted. The appeal was found to have no merit and was dismissed.
Facts
On 4 March 1997 the appellant and his brother, both armed with pangas and accompanied by their mother, went to the home of their father, Azaria Katsyomezo, which was also the home of his second wife. They cut the father to death and inflicted serious bodily harm on his second wife and her two children (PW7 and PW8). The appellant was indicted, tried and convicted of murder by the High Court at Bushenyi and sentenced to death. The appellant's defence was that his father had attacked him first and that he killed him under provocation and in self-defence. The conviction rested in part on the evidence of the deceased's relatives, including PW6, PW7 and PW8.
Issues
- Whether the Justices of Appeal misdirected themselves in relying on the evidence of PW6, PW7 and PW8 to uphold the appellant's conviction.
Orders
- Appeal dismissed.
Key headnotes
Legislation cited (2)
- Penal Code Act s.183
- Penal Code Act s.184