Wakilii

Tumuramye aka Kyakabale and Another v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 415 of 2015)

Court of Appeal · [2022] UGCA 68 · 2022 Appeal Allowed — Sentence Reduced AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal against sentence from a High Court murder conviction
Decision
Appeal against sentence allowed; appellants re-sentenced to 25 years and 11 months' imprisonment each

Observed later treatment

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Holding

The Court of Appeal held that although the trial judge stated he had taken into account the period the appellants spent on remand, he did not demonstrate that the actual period (about 4 years and one month) was credited to the appellants, contravening article 23(8) of the Constitution and rendering the sentence illegal. The Court set aside the 46-year sentence and, sentencing afresh under section 11 of the Judicature Act, imposed 30 years' imprisonment less the remand period, arriving at 25 years and 11 months for each appellant from 22 January 2015. Ground one on excessiveness was not considered once the sentence was set aside.

Outcome

Appeal against sentence allowed; appellants re-sentenced to 25 years and 11 months' imprisonment each

Facts

On 13 December 2010 at Rwanyangwe village in Kiruhura District, the deceased, Simpo Gertrida, a 16-year-old girl, went to collect firewood in a nearby forest where she was murdered. The appellants were seen in the forest holding the deceased to the ground with a panga (cutlass). The deceased did not return home, and her rotting body was later discovered in the forest, with the head found detached, cut off using a cutlass. The appellants were arrested, examined and found to be of sound mind. They were in police custody by 22 December 2010. They were tried, convicted of murder in the High Court at Mbarara before Bashaija J and sentenced on 22 January 2015 to 46 years' imprisonment. The appellants had spent approximately 4 years and one month in pre-trial detention. They appealed against sentence only.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial judge failed to take into account the period the appellants spent on remand contrary to article 23(8) of the Constitution, rendering the sentence illegal.
  2. Whether the sentence of 46 years' imprisonment was manifestly harsh and excessive.

Orders

  • Appeal against sentence allowed.
  • Sentence of 46 years' imprisonment set aside for contravention of article 23(8) of the Constitution.
  • Each appellant sentenced afresh to 25 years and 11 months' imprisonment commencing from 22 January 2015.

Rules and key headnotes

Sentencing — Remand Period — Article 23(8) Constitution — Requirement to Demonstrate Deduction
A sentencing court must demonstrate that the actual period an accused spent in lawful pre-trial custody has been arithmetically taken into account and credited to the convict; a bare statement that the remand period was considered, without showing the actual deduction, contravenes article 23(8) of the Constitution and renders the sentence illegal.
Article 23(8) — Non-retrospectivity Argument — Guiding Authority
The obligation under article 23(8) of the Constitution has been in force since 8 October 1995; a later Supreme Court decision interpreting how it applies merely provides guidance and does not amend the constitutional provision, so a trial court's compliance is assessed against the Constitution itself regardless of the date of any interpretive authority.
Sentencing — Appellate Interference with Sentence
An appellate court may interfere with a sentence only where it was based on a wrong principle, where the court misdirected itself or overlooked a material factor, or where the sentence is manifestly excessive or so low as to amount to an injustice.
Sentencing — Murder — Severity Hierarchy and Consistency
In the penal hierarchy the death penalty is most severe, followed by life imprisonment and then a fixed term of years; imposing specific terms exceeding twenty years may be more severe than life imprisonment, and sentences in murder cases should maintain reasonable consistency with comparable precedents.

Legislation cited (6)

Cases cited (14)

  • Livingstone Kakooza v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 17 of 1993)
  • Kizito Senkula v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 24 of 2001)
  • Turyahika Joseph v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 321 of 2014)
  • Rwabugande Moses v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 25 of 2014)
  • Tigo Stephen v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 8 of 2009)
  • Bukenya Stephen v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 51 of 2007)
  • Kabuye Senveno v Uganda No.2 of 2002
  • Bukenya Joseph v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 17 of 2010)
  • Abelle Asuman v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 66 of 2016)
  • Ogato s/o Owoura v R (1954) 21 EACA
  • James v R, (1950) 18 EACA 147
  • Oketto Godfrey v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 34 of 2014)
  • Bahabwa Gadi v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 526 of 2014)
  • Rwabugande Moses v Uganda [2017] UGSC 8

Full judgment

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

Tumuramye aka Kyakabale and Another v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 415 of 2015) [2022] UGCA 68 (3 March 2022)
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.