Wakilii

Bwalatum v Uganda (Criminal Review 5 of 2018)

Supreme Court · [2018] UGSC 64 · 2018 Application Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application by notice of motion to clarify, correct or review a final Supreme Court judgment in a criminal appeal
Decision
Application for review/clarification dismissed; the 20-year sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court stands unchanged

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Cited — treatment unverified cited in 1 (treatment unverified) Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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Holding

The applicant sought review of the Supreme Court's judgment to have the one year and seven months he spent on remand arithmetically deducted from his 20-year murder sentence. The Court dismissed the application, holding that Article 23(8) of the Constitution requires only that the remand period be taken into account in imposing the sentence, which the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court had done. The Court declined to deduct the remand period a second time, as doing so would double-credit the convict. Following Rwabugande Moses v Uganda and Abelle Asuman v Uganda, where a sentencing court demonstrates that it accounted for remand, the sentence will not be disturbed merely because the period was not separately subtracted.

Facts

The applicant was convicted by the High Court on two counts of murder and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment on each count. On appeal, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence to 20 years on each count, to run concurrently, noting that the appellant was a first offender and that he had spent one year and seven months on remand prior to trial and conviction. The Supreme Court dismissed his further appeal on 21 December 2017 and upheld the Court of Appeal's decision, observing that all legal factors, including the remand period, had been considered. The applicant then brought this application contending that, although the remand period had been taken into account, it had not been expressly and arithmetically deducted from the 20-year sentence as, he argued, the Sentencing Guidelines required, leaving the date his sentence would lapse unclear.

Issues

  1. Whether, after a sentencing court has taken the period spent on remand into account in determining the appropriate sentence, that period must additionally be arithmetically deducted from the sentence under the Sentencing Guidelines and Article 23(8) of the Constitution.
  2. Whether the Court's final judgment of 21 December 2017 warranted clarification, correction or review on the basis that the remand period had not been expressly deducted from the 20-year sentence.

Orders

  • The application is dismissed for lack of merit.

Key headnotes

Sentencing — Article 23(8) — Accounting for Period Spent on Remand
Article 23(8) of the Constitution requires only that any period a convict spends in lawful custody before completion of trial be taken into account in imposing the term of imprisonment; it does not mandate that the remand period be separately and arithmetically deducted from the sentence the court considers appropriate.
Sentencing — Remand Period — Prohibition on Double Credit
Where a sentencing court has clearly taken the remand period into account in arriving at the appropriate sentence, the convict is not entitled to have that same period deducted again from the sentence, as this would amount to double-crediting the remand period.
Sentencing — Style of Expression — Non-Interference Where Constitutional Obligation Met
An appellate court will not interfere with a sentence merely because the sentencing judge used different words or did not state that the remand period was deducted; the manner of expressing how remand was credited is a matter of style provided the court has in effect complied with Article 23(8).
Sentencing Guidelines — Meaning of 'Deduct' in Guideline 15
The words 'deduct' and 'arithmetically' used in relation to the remand period operate as a guide for sentencing courts and are not terms derived from the Constitution; they do not impose a separate obligation beyond taking the remand period into account.
Review — Re-opening Matters Already Decided
A review application cannot be used to re-agitate matters that have already been substantively considered and decided by the lower court and the final court, and such an application may constitute an abuse of court process.

Legislation cited (11)

  • Constitution Article 126(2)(e)
  • Constitution Article 132(4)
  • Constitution Article 23(8)
  • Constitution Article 133(b)
  • Judicature (Supreme Court Rules) Directions SI 13-11 Rule 2(2)
  • Judicature (Supreme Court Rules) Directions SI 13-11 Rule 35(1)
  • Judicature (Supreme Court Rules) Directions SI 13-11 Rule 35(2)
  • Judicature (Supreme Court Rules) Directions SI 13-11 Rule 42(1)
  • Judicature (Supreme Court Rules) Directions SI 13-11 Rule 43(1)
  • Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013 Guideline 15(1)
  • Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013 Guideline 15(2)

Cases cited (2)

  • Rwabugande Moses v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 25 of 2014)
  • Abelle Asuman v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 66 of 2016)
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.