Wakilii

Obiero v Rex (Criminal Appeal No. 87 of 1949)

East African Court of Appeal · [1949] EACA 36 · 1949 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from conviction for murder by H.M. Supreme Court of Kenya
Decision
Murder conviction upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Court held that provocation does not reduce murder to manslaughter where the mode of resentment bears no proper and reasonable relationship to the provocation given. Although the deceased slapped and spat at the appellant, this conduct could not justify or excuse the violent assault with a panga that caused her death. The appeal was dismissed and the murder conviction upheld.

Outcome

Murder conviction upheld

Facts

The appellant killed a woman who had formerly been his mistress by inflicting four blows on her head with a panga. He suspected her of making away with a considerable sum of money which had been entrusted to her for safe custody. The trial judge accepted the appellant's version that the deceased refused to discuss the question of the money and slapped his face and spat at him before he attacked her. The appellant was convicted of murder. He appealed on the ground that the circumstances amounted to provocation sufficient to reduce the offence to manslaughter.

Issues

  1. Whether the circumstances of the killing amounted in law to provocation sufficient under sections 202 and 203 of the Penal Code to reduce the appellant's crime from murder to manslaughter.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Criminal Law & Procedure — Provocation — Mode of Resentment — Proportionality Requirement
In considering the effect of provocation upon a person who kills another, the mode of resentment adopted by the person provoked must bear proper and reasonable relationship to the sort of provocation that has been given.
Criminal Law & Procedure — Provocation — Slapping and Spitting — Insufficient to Justify Panga Attack
Conduct by a deceased person consisting of slapping the accused's face and spitting at him, even when coupled with refusal to discuss a disputed sum of money, cannot justify or excuse a violent assault with a panga so as to reduce murder to manslaughter.
Evidence — Assessors' Opinion — Objective Test for Provocation
In determining whether provocation is sufficient to reduce murder to manslaughter, the court may consider whether the conduct would cause the average person of the accused's type and age to retaliate in the manner adopted.

Legislation cited (2)

  • Penal Code s.202
  • Penal Code s.203

Full judgment

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

Obiero v Rex (Criminal Appeal No. 87 of 1949) [1949] EACA 36 (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.