Wakilii

Mwanja v Rex (Criminal Appeal No. 135 of 1949)

East African Court of Appeal · [1949] EACA 38 · 1949 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from decision of High Court of Tanganyika
Decision
Appeal dismissed

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal but held that when a trial judge visits the scene of a crime and makes notes of observations, those notes must be read out in court and opportunity given to call evidence on any point in the notes. Statements made by the judge based on observations at the locus, if made by a prosecution witness, would be subject to cross-examination, and the accused must have the same opportunity to challenge them.

Outcome

Appeal dismissed

Facts

The appellant was convicted in the High Court of Tanganyika. During the trial, the learned judge, accompanied by the accused, his advocate, and the assessors, visited the locus in quo. The judge made notes of his observations, including a statement about gaps in a hedge through which a spear was allegedly thrown. The judge recorded that the gaps were such that one would be fortunate to throw a spear through the hedge without its flight being impeded. A rough plan made by the judge was agreed by both advocates, but it did not clearly appear from the record that all the judge's notes of his observations were read out in court.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial judge's notes made during a view of the locus in quo must be read out in court and opportunity given to call evidence on any point in the notes.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Criminal Procedure — View of Locus in Quo — Judge's Notes and Observations
When a trial judge visits the scene of a crime and makes notes of observations during the view, those notes must be read out in court and opportunity must be given to call evidence on any point in the notes.
Evidence — View of Locus — Right to Cross-Examination on Judge's Observations
A statement made by a judge based on observations at the locus in quo, if made by a witness for the prosecution, would be subject to cross-examination, and the accused's advocate must have an opportunity to cross-examine upon it or call evidence to challenge it.
Criminal Procedure — Recording of Proceedings — View of Locus
The fact that the judge's notes of observations made during a view of the locus have been read out in court and that opportunity was given to call evidence on any point in the notes should be carefully recorded in the record of proceedings.

Full judgment

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

Mwanja v Rex (Criminal Appeal No. 135 of 1949) [1949] EACA 38 (1 January 1949)
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.