Ojok v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No.149 of 2014)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The appellant appealed against a 28-year sentence for aggravated defilement, arguing it was illegal because the trial judge failed to account for time spent on remand as required by article 23(8) of the Constitution. The respondent conceded the sentence was illegal. The Court of Appeal held that the failure to consider pre-trial custody rendered the sentence a nullity, and proceeded to impose a fresh sentence under section 11 of the Judicature Act. Considering mitigating factors including the appellant's age (18), guilty plea and remorse, the Court set an appropriate sentence of 8 years, deducted 10 months on remand, and substituted a sentence of 7 years and 2 months.

Outcome

Appeal against sentence allowed; sentence of 28 years set aside and substituted with 7 years and 2 months imprisonment from date of conviction.

Facts

The appellant was indicted and, on his own plea of guilty, convicted of aggravated defilement contrary to sections 129(3) and (4)(a) of the Penal Code Act. On 27 July 2012 at Opok village in Amuru District he performed a sexual act with a girl aged 5 years. The victim suffered only some inflammation of the labia minora and her hymen was intact. The appellant was 18 years old at the time of the offence, a first offender with no criminal record, and was remorseful. The trial judge sentenced him to 28 years imprisonment but did not take into account the 10 months the appellant had spent on remand prior to conviction on 21 June 2013.

Issues

1. Whether the trial judge imposed an illegal sentence by failing to take into account the period the appellant had spent on remand.

Orders

• The sentence of 28 years imprisonment is set aside as illegal.
• A new sentence of 8 years imprisonment imposed, less 10 months spent in pre-trial custody, resulting in 7 years and 2 months imprisonment from 21 June 2013.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (5)

• Penal Code Act s.129(3)
• Penal Code Act s.129(4)(a)
• Constitution of Uganda art.23(8)
• Judicature Act s.11
• Children Act s.94(7)

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