Wakilii

Rex v Saidi (Criminal Appeal No. 208 of 1945)

East African Court of Appeal · [1945] EACA 30 · 1945 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from conviction for murder by the High Court of Tanganyika
Decision
Conviction for murder upheld

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.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

Appeal against murder conviction dismissed where accused killed deceased with malice aforethought while fleeing after theft. Court clarified that under section 6 of the Indian Oaths Act 1873 as applied to Tanganyika, Mohamedan witnesses should be affirmed rather than sworn.

Outcome

Conviction for murder upheld

Facts

The accused was found running away with stolen clothes. A hue and cry was raised. When a man attempted to arrest him, the accused fatally stabbed that man. The accused was convicted of murder in the High Court of Tanganyika on the basis that he killed the deceased with malice aforethought.

Issues

  1. Whether the conviction for murder should be upheld on appeal.
  2. Whether Mohamedan witnesses should be sworn or affirmed under the Indian Oaths Act 1873.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Murder — Malice Aforethought — Killing During Flight from Arrest
Where an accused person kills someone attempting to arrest him while fleeing from the scene of a theft, this constitutes murder with malice aforethought.
Oaths and Affirmations — Mohamedan Witnesses — Indian Oaths Act 1873
Under section 6 of the Indian Oaths Act 1873 as applied to Tanganyika, Mohamedan witnesses should be affirmed rather than sworn.

Legislation cited (2)

  • Indian Oaths Act 1873 s.6
  • Indian Oaths Act 1873 s.13

Cases cited (1)

  • Rex v Bitashubirwe bln Gujwire (10 E.A.C.A. 78)

Full judgment

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

Rex v Saidi (Criminal Appeal No. 208 of 1945) [1945] EACA 30 (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.