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Atugonza & 4 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeal 11 of 2018)

Supreme Court · [2021] UGSC 5 · 2021 Appeal Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Second criminal appeal against conviction and sentence, from a decision of the Court of Appeal confirming convictions for murder and rape.
Decision
Appeal dismissed; convictions and sentences of life imprisonment confirmed.

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Holding

On a second appeal against convictions for murder and rape, the Supreme Court held that it would not interfere with concurrent findings of the trial court and Court of Appeal where there was evidence to support them. The accomplice evidence of PW4 was sufficiently corroborated, the alibis were displaced by evidence placing the appellants at the scene, and the sentencing discretion disclosed no error in principle. Life imprisonment is a legal sentence and was not manifestly excessive. The Court corrected the Court of Appeal's statement that life imprisonment means twenty years: following Tigo Stephen v Uganda, life imprisonment means imprisonment for the convict's natural life, the Prisons Act's twenty-year figure being only for calculating remission. Appeal dismissed.

Facts

On 9 January 2011 at Kijungu Village in Masindi, the deceased, Bifeeramunda Hamida, was raped and then killed. The appellants were tried in the High Court at Masindi and convicted of murder and rape, and sentenced to concurrent terms of life imprisonment on each offence. The prosecution case rested substantially on the evidence of PW4, an accomplice, who detailed how the appellants killed the deceased, supported by other witnesses who placed the appellants at the scene. Implicating evidence included a scarf belonging to the deceased found with the second appellant, a wallet recovered at the scene bearing the fourth appellant's name, and witness identification of the fifth appellant. On first appeal, the Court of Appeal confirmed the murder convictions for all appellants and the rape conviction of the second appellant, but quashed the rape convictions of two appellants for want of evidence. The appellants pursued a second appeal to the Supreme Court.

Issues

  1. Whether the appellate court erred in upholding the convictions on the basis of accomplice (confession) evidence said to be uncorroborated and inconsistent.
  2. Whether the courts below failed to properly consider the appellants' defence of alibi.
  3. Whether the convictions could properly be sustained on the circumstantial evidence relied upon.
  4. Whether the sentence of life imprisonment was manifestly harsh and excessive and failed to take account of mitigating factors.
  5. Whether life imprisonment is to be construed as a term of twenty years under the Prisons Act.

Orders

  • The appeals of the first and third appellants (withdrawn at the hearing) are dismissed under rule 66(1) of the Rules of the Court.
  • The convictions of the three remaining appellants for murder are upheld, together with the second appellant's conviction for rape.
  • The sentences of life imprisonment are confirmed.
  • The appeal is dismissed.

Key headnotes

Criminal Procedure — Second Appeal — Function of the Second Appellate Court
On a second appeal the court's task is to determine whether the first appellate court properly re-evaluated the evidence; it should not interfere except in the clearest cases where the first appellate court has failed to satisfactorily re-evaluate the evidence.
Criminal Procedure — Concurrent Findings of Fact — Limits on Appellate Interference
An appellate court may interfere with concurrent findings of fact of the trial court and first appellate court only where there was no evidence to support the finding, since that alone raises a question of law.
Evidence — Accomplice Evidence — Corroboration
A conviction may be sustained on accomplice evidence where that evidence is found truthful and is corroborated by other prosecution evidence; minor contradictions that do not go to the root of the case do not render the evidence unreliable.
Criminal Procedure — Sentencing — Interference with Sentencing Discretion
An appellate court will not interfere with a sentence imposed in the exercise of discretion unless the sentence is illegal, manifestly excessive or inadequate, wrong in principle, or where the court ignored a material consideration; mere disagreement is insufficient.
Statutory Interpretation — Sentencing — Meaning of Life Imprisonment under the Prisons Act
Life imprisonment means imprisonment for the natural life of the convict; the provision deeming life imprisonment to be twenty years under the Prisons Act applies only for the purpose of calculating remission and does not define the sentence as a term of twenty years.

Legislation cited (8)

  • Penal Code Act s.188
  • Penal Code Act s.189
  • Penal Code Act s.123
  • Penal Code Act s.124
  • Penal Code Act s.20
  • Prisons Act 2006 s.86(3)
  • Prisons Act s.47(6)
  • Rules of the Supreme Court r.66(1)

Cases cited (14)

  • Baitwabusa Francis v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 29 of 2015)
  • Simon Musoke v R (1958) EA 715
  • Onzima Vunusu v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 34 of 1995)
  • Kamya Abdullah and 5 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 24 of 2015)
  • Kifamunte Henry v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 10 of 1997)
  • R v Hassan Bin Said (1942) 9 EACA 62
  • Sowedi Serinyina v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 1 of 2017)
  • Okeno v Republic [1972] EA 32
  • Kyalimpa Edward v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 10 of 1995)
  • R v Haviland (1983) 5 Cr App R 109
  • Ogalo Owuora v R (1954) 21 EACA 126
  • R v Mohamedali Jamal (1948) 15 EACA 126
  • Kamya Johnson Wavamunno v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 16 of 2000)
  • Tigo Stephen v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 8 of 2009)
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.