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Sowedi alias Obongi v Uganda [2019] UGSC 59

Supreme Court · 2019 Appeal Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Second criminal appeal to the Supreme Court against sentence only, from the Court of Appeal's variation of a High Court murder sentence
Decision
Appeal dismissed; 30-year sentence of imprisonment for murder upheld

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Holding

On a second appeal against sentence for murder, the Supreme Court held that its jurisdiction under section 5(3) of the Judicature Act is confined to the legality of a sentence, not its severity. The trial court had properly weighed the appellant's youthfulness and other mitigating factors against the aggravating circumstances and remand time, and the Court of Appeal had reduced the sentence from 37 to 30 years within the Constitution's sentencing range for murder (30 years to death). Finding no error of principle, no illegality, and no inconsistency with comparable cases, the Court upheld the 30-year sentence and dismissed the appeal.

Facts

The appellant was charged with murder contrary to sections 188 and 189 of the Penal Code Act. On 20 June 2011 at Lwala village, Kaberamaido District, a lorry driver (PW1) carrying the deceased as a passenger encountered a road block of logs at night between Kaberamaido and Kalaki. As the driver slowed and then sped up, the appellant and another man emerged from the roadside and ordered the vehicle to stop. When the driver ignored them, the appellant ordered his partner to shoot, and the deceased was shot in the heart and killed. The appellant was convicted of murder and sentenced by the High Court to 37 years' imprisonment, the trial court treating his age of 26 as a mitigating factor but finding the aggravating factors outweighed it, and accounting for time on remand since August 2011. On appeal, the Court of Appeal set aside the 37-year sentence and substituted 30 years. The appellant appealed to the Supreme Court against sentence only.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial court and the Court of Appeal erred in law by failing to exhaustively consider the appellant's mitigating factors in sentencing, resulting in an illegal sentence.
  2. Whether the 30-year sentence substituted by the Court of Appeal should be set aside as illegal or inconsistent with sentencing in similar cases.

Orders

  • The sentence of thirty years imprisonment as varied by the Court of Appeal is upheld.
  • The appellant is to continue serving the sentence of thirty years imprisonment.
  • Appeal dismissed.

Key headnotes

Criminal Procedure — Second Appeal Against Sentence — Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
On an appeal against sentence to the Supreme Court, jurisdiction under section 5(3) of the Judicature Act is limited to the legality of the sentence and does not extend to its severity.
Sentencing — Appellate Interference with Sentencing Discretion
An appellate court will not interfere with a trial court's exercise of sentencing discretion unless the discretion was exercised unjudicially or on wrong principles; where reasons are given it interferes only if they are clearly wrong or untenable, and where no reasons are given it interferes if satisfied the order is wrong.
Sentencing — Mitigating Factors — Consistency in Sentencing
A court must consider all mitigating and aggravating factors when sentencing, and should ensure consistency with cases of similar facts; however, an appropriate sentence remains a matter of discretion and the status of being a first offender is not, by itself, decisive.
Sentencing — Murder — Statutory Sentencing Range
Under the Third Schedule to the Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines), the sentencing range for murder is from 30 years' imprisonment to the death penalty; a 30-year sentence for murder falls within this range and is neither illegal nor inconsistent.

Legislation cited (4)

  • Penal Code Act s.188
  • Penal Code Act s.189
  • Judicature Act s.5(3)
  • Constitution Third Schedule (Sentencing Guidelines)

Cases cited (11)

  • Mbunya Godfrey v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 04 of 2011)
  • Korobe Joseph v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 243 of 2013)
  • Atuku Margret Opii v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 123 of 2008)
  • Aharikunda Yustina v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 27 of 2015)
  • Karisa Moses v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 23 of 2016)
  • Turyahabwe & 12 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 50 of 2015)
  • Kaddu Kavulu Lawrence v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 72 of 2018)
  • Kifamunte Henry v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 07 of 1997)
  • P.R. Pandya vs. R. (1957) E.A.
  • Kairu vs. Uganda (1978) FI.C.B. 123
  • Kiwalabye Bernard v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 143 of 2001)
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.