Wakilii

Rex v Singh and Others (Cr. Apps. Nos. 20-22 of 1939)

East African Court of Appeal · [1938] EACA 166 · 1938 Conviction Quashed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeals from magistrate's court convictions for assault causing grievous bodily harm
Decision
Convictions quashed and matter remitted for retrial before a different magistrate

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Where a magistrate visits the scene of an alleged crime alone and the visit influences the judgment but the results are not recorded, the conviction cannot stand. As a matter of practice, the accused and counsel must be given an opportunity to visit the locus in quo, and the magistrate must record the results of any such visit so that parties may examine or cross-examine on points arising from it.

Outcome

Convictions quashed and matter remitted for retrial before a different magistrate

Facts

The appellants were convicted by a magistrate of assault causing grievous bodily harm occurring on a dark night. The magistrate visited the locus in quo alone on a dark night. It was apparent from the judgment that this visit influenced the magistrate's decision, but the magistrate did not record what he observed or what deductions he made from the visit. The results of the visit were not placed on the record, and neither the accused nor their counsel were given an opportunity to be present during the visit or to examine or cross-examine on any matters arising from it.

Issues

  1. Whether a magistrate's unrecorded visit to the locus in quo in the absence of the accused and their counsel, which influenced the judgment, constitutes an error of jurisdiction rendering the conviction bad in law.

Orders

  • Convictions and sentences set aside.
  • New trial ordered before Mr. Rudd.
  • Trial magistrate to take into account the period the accused persons have been in custody in the event of conviction.

Rules and key headnotes

Criminal Procedure — Magistrate's Visit to Scene — Requirement for Accused's Presence
As a matter of practice, an accused person and his counsel must be given an opportunity of visiting the locus in quo in any case where such a visit is considered necessary and decided upon by the court.
Criminal Procedure — Magistrate's Visit to Scene — Recording of Observations
The result of a magistrate's visit to the locus in quo must be recorded on the magistrate's return to court so that the prosecution or defence may be in a position to examine or cross-examine on any point recorded as a result of the visit.
Evidence — Judicial Notice — Matters Not on Record
Where a magistrate imports into his judgment matters of opinion and inference based on circumstances not on the record from an unrecorded local inspection, and does not place on the record the results of that inspection, he commits an error of jurisdiction which may materially prejudice the accused and render the conviction bad in law.

Cases cited (1)

  • Babbon Sheikh v Emperor (1910) 37 Cal 340

Full judgment

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

Rex v Singh and Others (Cr. Apps. Nos. 20-22 of 1939) [1938] EACA 166 (1 January 1938)
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.