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Rex v Samo (Criminal Appeal No. 162 of 1948)

East African Court of Appeal · [1948] EACA 40 · 1948 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from conviction by High Court of Tanganyika
Decision
Conviction and sentence upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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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

Where a trial Judge comes to a contrary finding on facts to the unanimous opinion of assessors, it is good practice for the Judge to state in the judgment reasons for the disagreement. The Judge is under no obligation to accept the assessors' opinions and bears sole responsibility for the factual findings. The appeal was dismissed as the conviction was supported by evidence the trial Judge was entitled to accept.

Outcome

Conviction and sentence upheld

Facts

The appellant was convicted of unlawfully attempting to strike one Kiguna with an arrow with intent to maim, disfigure, disable, do grievous harm, or resist lawful arrest. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment with hard labour. At trial, two assessors held that the appellant did not fire the arrow. The trial Judge accepted the prosecution's consistent evidence and rejected the defence evidence after observing the witnesses' demeanour. The Judge made no reference in the judgment to the assessors' contrary opinions.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial Judge was required to discuss the opinions of Assessors when reaching a contrary finding on the facts.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Trial with Assessors — Judge and Assessors Reaching Different Conclusions — Judicial Practice
Where a trial Judge comes to a contrary finding on facts to the unanimous opinion of assessors, it is good practice for the Judge to state in the judgment reasons for the disagreement.
Trial with Assessors — Weight of Assessors' Opinions — Judge's Responsibility
A trial Judge is under no obligation to accept the opinions of assessors and cannot do so unless in agreement with them. The responsibility for factual findings rests solely with the Judge.
Assessment of Evidence — Demeanour of Witnesses — Trial Judge's Advantage
A trial Judge who has seen the witnesses and had the opportunity of studying their demeanour is entitled to accept one party's evidence and reject another's, and an appellate court will not interfere with such findings.

Legislation cited (1)

  • Tanganyika Penal Code s.222(2)

Full judgment

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

Rex v Samo (Criminal Appeal No. 162 of 1948) [1948] EACA 40 (1 January 1948)
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.