Wakilii

Rex v Murimbocho (Criminal Case No. 25 of 1945)

East African Court of Appeal · [1945] EACA 62 · 1945 Acquittal Entered AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance criminal trial for murder
Decision
Accused acquitted and discharged

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

An alibi defence put forward from the earliest stage of proceedings and supported by witnesses called in the lower court created sufficient doubt as to the identification of the accused by prosecution witnesses. The court held it would be unsafe to convict where identification evidence was in such doubt, and the accused was acquitted and discharged.

Outcome

Accused acquitted and discharged

Facts

The accused was charged with murder. From the outset, the accused put forward a defence of alibi and called witnesses to support this defence in the lower court. The prosecution relied on identification evidence from Crown witnesses. The court was satisfied that the alibi had been raised at the earliest moment and was supported by evidence.

Issues

  1. Whether the defence of alibi raised by the accused from the outset threw reasonable doubt on the identification evidence adduced by the prosecution.

Orders

  • Accused acquitted and discharged.

Rules and key headnotes

Evidence — Alibi — Defence raised from outset and supported by witnesses
Where an accused person charged with murder puts forward an alibi defence from the very start and calls witnesses to support it at the earliest moment in the lower court, this may create sufficient reasonable doubt as to the identification of the accused to render conviction unsafe.
Evidence — Identification — Reasonable doubt — Standard for conviction
Where the court is left in doubt as to whether the identification of the accused by prosecution witnesses may be mistaken, it would be unsafe to convict and the accused must be acquitted.

Cases cited (2)

  • R v Ahmed bin Abdul Hafid (1 E.A.C.A. 76)
  • R v Sukha Singh and others (6 E.A.C.A. 145)

Full judgment

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

Rex v Murimbocho (Criminal Case No. 25 of 1945) [1945] EACA 62 (1 January 1945)
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.