Wakilii

Kitwala Ronald & 3 Ors V Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 70 of 1998)

Court of Appeal · [1999] UGCA 11 · 1999 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from High Court conviction for murder and death sentence
Decision
Conviction for murder and death sentence upheld against the three surviving appellants; appeal dismissed

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Court of Appeal upheld the murder convictions and death sentences. It held that evidence of a single competent and credible witness, including relatives of the deceased, may found a conviction, and that a witness who lied on an isolated point may still be found substantially truthful. On common intention under section 22 of the Penal Code Act, the court held that the LDU members who were armed, participated in extorting and assaulting the deceased, handed over or failed to prevent use of the gun, and did nothing to stop the shooting, acquiesced in and participated in the killing, which was a probable consequence of their unlawful purpose. The appeal was dismissed.

Outcome

Conviction for murder and death sentence upheld against the three surviving appellants; appeal dismissed

Facts

On 10 July 1995, a market day at Kankwale village, Kiboga District, the first appellant (a police corporal) and three Local Defence Unit members arrested Paulo Kijwa for allegedly riding his bicycle through the market. They roughed him up, took his bicycle and extorted shs.5,000 from him. When the deceased attempted to recover his bicycle, they re-arrested and seriously assaulted him. The three LDU members were each armed; the first appellant was not. The first appellant asked Rwamigo Richard for his gun, fired a shot in the air, then shot the deceased in the face and legs, killing him instantly. The men left with the bicycle. That evening the first and second appellants reported at Nabwendo Police Post that they had killed someone, surrendering the gun and the bicycle. At trial the four denied the offence and raised an alibi, which the trial judge rejected. The third appellant, Rwamigo Richard, died in prison before the appeal.

Issues

  1. Whether the appellants were correctly identified and placed at the scene of the crime by the prosecution witnesses.
  2. Whether a conviction could safely be based on the single evidence of the deceased's wife who had admitted lying to court on one point.
  3. Whether the appellants who did not fire the fatal shots shared a common intention such that the death was a probable consequence of their unlawful purpose under section 22 of the Penal Code Act.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Conviction and sentence upheld.

Rules and key headnotes

Evidence — Sufficiency — Single competent witness — No requirement for additional or independent witnesses
As long as a witness is competent and credible, his or her evidence may be relied upon to prove a fact, even where it is the evidence of a single witness; there is no rule requiring additional or independent witnesses beyond relatives of a victim, save in cases requiring corroboration.
Evidence — Credibility — Witness who lied on an isolated point may still be found substantially truthful
A trial judge is entitled to find that a witness has been substantially truthful even though the witness has lied in some particular respect, and may rely on the balance of that witness's testimony.
Criminal Law — Common Intention — Section 22 Penal Code Act — Liability of participants for offence as probable consequence of unlawful purpose
Where two or more persons form a common intention to prosecute an unlawful purpose and an offence is committed whose commission was a probable consequence of that purpose, each is deemed to have committed the offence; common intention may be inferred from presence, participation and failure to prevent the offence.
Criminal Law — Common Intention — Duty of armed security officers — Foreseeability where they fail to prevent a killing
Armed Local Defence Unit members who engage in an unlawful purpose, are present and armed, hand over a weapon or fail to disarm an unarmed colleague when it becomes clear he intends to shoot, and take no step to prevent the killing, are taken to have acquiesced in and participated in the offence, which is deemed a probable consequence of the common unlawful purpose.

Legislation cited (3)

Cases cited (3)

  • Alfred Taiar -vs- Uganda East African Court of Appeal Criminal appeal No.167 of 1969
  • R v Tabulayenka (1943) 10 EACA 131
  • Magayi v Uganda [1965] EA 667

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Kitwala Ronald & 3 Ors V Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 70 of 1998) [1999] UGCA 11 (12 May 1999)
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.