Wakilii

Rex v Lwabijjawo (Criminal Appeal No. 249 of 1947)

East African Court of Appeal · [1947] EACA 52 · 1947 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from murder conviction in the High Court of Uganda
Decision
Conviction for murder upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Held that where in a trial for murder a defence is put forward and rejected, it remains the duty of the court to consider the possibility of manslaughter if there is some evidence to support it, even if the accused does not raise that defence. However, on the evidence in this case, there was no material to support an hypothesis of provocation reducing the offence to manslaughter. The appeal was dismissed.

Outcome

Conviction for murder upheld

Facts

The appellant was convicted of murder in the High Court of Uganda for spearing the deceased Nasaneiri in the back whilst a group of people, including the deceased, were gathered watching the appellant's house burn at night. At trial the appellant claimed he thought the deceased was an animal, which defence the court rejected as fantastic given the illumination from the burning house and the presence of other spectators. Evidence showed the appellant had previously stated he suspected no one of burning his house, attributing it to children and fowls. When seized after the spearing he remarked about trouble between them due to fires, but evidence revealed the deceased was a chief who had previously caused the appellant to be fined for burning jungle. The appellant never alleged the deceased was responsible for burning his house.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial judge erred in not directing himself and the assessors on the possibility of manslaughter on the ground of provocation, even though such defence was not put forward by the accused.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Murder — Duty of Court to Consider Manslaughter — Defence Not Pleaded
Where in a trial for murder a defence is put forward by the accused and rejected by the court, it remains the duty of the court to consider also the possibility of manslaughter, even though the accused does not put forward that defence, if there is some evidence to support it.
Burden of Proof — Murder — Prosecution Must Prove Murder Affirmatively
On an indictment for murder, the onus is always on the prosecution to prove that the offence amounts to murder. If on the whole of the evidence there is anything which could entitle a jury to return a lesser verdict of manslaughter, the judge must bring it to the attention of the jury whether the defence have relied on it or not, because if they accept it or are left in doubt about it, the prosecution have not proved affirmatively a case of murder.
Provocation — Evidence Required to Support Defence
Where there is positive evidence excluding the possibility of provocation, including statements by the accused inconsistent with having acted under such belief, the court is not required to direct on manslaughter by reason of provocation.

Cases cited (5)

  • Rex v Mwaniki (IX EACA 40)
  • Mancini v Director of Public Prosecutions [1941] 3 AER 272
  • Rex v Kwaku Mensah (115 LJ Reports 20)
  • R v Hopper [1915] 2 KB 431
  • Rex v Clinton (CAR 215)

Full judgment

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

Rex v Lwabijjawo (Criminal Appeal No. 249 of 1947) [1947] EACA 52 (1 January 1947)
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.