Wakilii

Patel v Rex (Criminal Appeal No. 47 of 1951)

East African Court of Appeal · [1951] EACA 188 · 1951 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Second appeal from conviction for official corruption, following unsuccessful appeal to Supreme Court of Kenya
Decision
Conviction for official corruption upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

An accused who gives incriminating evidence may be convicted even if the Crown case was insufficient at its close. Where a person counsels and procures an offence, section 22 of the Penal Code permits charging and convicting them as a principal without amending particulars to specify counselling and procuring, though amendment may be appropriate to avoid prejudice.

Outcome

Conviction for official corruption upheld

Facts

The appellant was charged jointly with C. Z. Patel with corruptly offering a bribe of Sh. 500, brandy, mangoes, oranges, beer and biscuits to a Special Magistrate to secure lenient treatment on a criminal charge. At trial, the only evidence against the appellant at the close of the prosecution case was that he handed his co-accused something resembling a folded envelope. The co-accused subsequently offered the Special Magistrate Sh. 500 in an envelope. The appellant elected to give evidence and testified that he sent the money as a Christmas present on 23 December 1950. The trial magistrate rejected this explanation and convicted both accused. C. Z. Patel did not appeal. The appellant's first appeal to the Supreme Court of Kenya was unsuccessful.

Issues

  1. Whether at the close of the prosecution case there was sufficient evidence to require the appellant to make a defence under section 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
  2. Whether a person charged with corruptly offering a bribe can be convicted of counselling and procuring the commission of that offence without amendment of the charge particulars.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Criminal Procedure — No Case to Answer — Effect of Accused's Incriminating Evidence
Where at the close of the prosecution case the evidence is insufficient to warrant conviction, but the accused elects to give evidence and incriminates himself, he may be convicted on the totality of the evidence including his own testimony, and there is no onus on the court to stop the trial at the close of the prosecution case.
Criminal Procedure — Charging — Counselling and Procuring — Section 22 Penal Code
Section 22 of the Penal Code deems persons who counsel or procure the commission of an offence to have taken part in committing it and permits them to be charged with actually committing the offence. Where so charged, it is sufficient in law to aver as particulars the commission of the actual offence without specifying that the accused counselled or procured it.
Criminal Procedure — Amendment of Charge — Counselling and Procuring
Although it is not legally necessary to amend charge particulars to specify counselling and procuring where the accused is charged as a principal under section 22 of the Penal Code, such amendment may be appropriate in fairness to the accused if failure to amend would occasion prejudice or lead to a miscarriage of justice.
Penal Code — Section 22 — Accessories and Principals
Section 22 of the Penal Code sweeps away the procedural peculiarities of English law affecting accessories before the fact and principals in the second degree in felonies, making general and applicable to all offences the rule that all who counsel or procure the commission of an offence may be charged as principals.

Legislation cited (10)

  • Penal Code s.93(2)
  • Penal Code s.22
  • Criminal Procedure Code s.208
  • Criminal Procedure Code s.209(1)
  • Criminal Procedure Code s.212(1)
  • Criminal Procedure Code s.137(a)(iii)
  • Criminal Procedure Code s.137(a)(iv)
  • Penal Code s.4
  • Criminal Procedure Code s.3(3)
  • Summary Jurisdiction Act 1848 s.5

Cases cited (6)

  • Rex v Kinanda bin Mwaisumo (Criminal Appeal No. 6 of 1939)
  • Karioki v Rex (Criminal Appeal No. 1 of 1934)
  • Benford v Sims [1898] 2 QB 641
  • Du Cross v Lambourne [1907] 1 KB 40
  • Gould & Co v Houghton [1921] 2 KB 509
  • Rex v de Marny [1907] 1 KB 388

Full judgment

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

Patel v Rex (Criminal Appeal No. 47 of 1951) [1951] EACA 188 (1 January 1951)
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.