Wakilii

Rex v Mbithuka (Cr. App. 42-1931.)

East African Court of Appeal · [1931] EACA 27 · 1931 Appeal Dismissed, Sentence Reduced AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from conviction for bribery under Penal Code s.88(2)
Decision
Appellant's conviction for bribery upheld but sentence reduced to time already served

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Court held that sending money to a judge who is sitting in a case in which the sender is a party amounts to bribery under section 88(2) of the Penal Code, even where the payment relates to a pre-existing debt and the intention is to secure impartiality rather than prejudice in the sender's favour. Whatever motive impels payment of money to an elder during the course of a trial presupposes an intention to influence the elder. The conviction was upheld but the sentence was reduced to time served.

Outcome

Appellant's conviction for bribery upheld but sentence reduced to time already served

Facts

The appellant was defendant in a civil case heard by a Council of five elders. After the elders retired to consider the case but before delivering judgment, a friend of the appellant, on his behalf and with his consent, approached one of the elders to whom the appellant owed Sh. 12. The friend tendered Sh. 5 and said words to the effect of asking the elder to listen to the appellant's case well. The elder accepted the money and reported the matter to the Council. The appellant was subsequently charged with offering a bribe under section 88(2) of the Penal Code. The appellant's defence was that he had no intention to bribe the elder and that the payment was merely on account of the debt owed, arguing he could not expect a fair trial if one of his judges was a creditor.

Issues

  1. Whether payment of money owed to an elder sitting as a judge during the course of a trial constitutes bribery under section 88(2) of the Penal Code.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Conviction upheld.
  • Sentence reduced to such period that it expires forthwith.

Rules and key headnotes

Official Corruption — Bribery — Payment to Judge During Trial
Sending money to a judge who is sitting in a case in which the sender is a party amounts to bribery under section 88(2) of the Penal Code, regardless of whether the payment relates to a pre-existing debt and regardless of whether the intention is to secure impartiality rather than prejudice in the sender's favour.
Official Corruption — Bribery — Intention to Influence
Whatever motive impels payment of money to an elder in the course of a trial before him, whether the money is owing to the elder or not, presupposes an intention to influence the elder.

Legislation cited (1)

  • Penal Code s.88(2)

Full judgment

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Rex v Mbithuka (Cr. App. 42-1931.) [1931] EACA 27 (1 January 1931)
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.