Wakilii

Twaha v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 491 of 2014)

Court of Appeal · [2019] UGCA 238 · 2019 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First criminal appeal from High Court conviction for murder and sentence of life imprisonment
Decision
Appeal against conviction and sentence dismissed; conviction for murder and life imprisonment upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal against conviction for murder and the sentence of life imprisonment. It held that the retracted confession was voluntarily and truly made, the medical report having disproved the torture allegation, and that it was sufficiently corroborated by the evidence of PW1 and PW5. The court found the confession to PW3 inadmissible under section 23(1)(a) of the Evidence Act and the dying declaration to PW4 too vague, but held no particular number of witnesses is required. Although the trial Judge misdirected himself by failing to evaluate the alibi, this occasioned no miscarriage of justice. Following Magezi Gad, life imprisonment is not subject to remand deduction under Article 23(8) and the sentence was upheld.

Outcome

Appeal against conviction and sentence dismissed; conviction for murder and life imprisonment upheld

Facts

On 7 August 2006, five people were shot dead at Kobil Petrol Station, Bugolobi, Kampala, where the appellant had previously worked as a security guard. The deceased were Oroto Tom Kennedy, Muganyizi Patrick Kateba, Gatale Claudian, Bagonza Herbert and Okiru Charles. The appellant had earlier been replaced at the station pending investigation of alleged theft of money. After arrest, the appellant gave a charge and caution statement admitting the shooting, motivated by frustration and annoyance. The appellant alleged the confession was obtained through torture during illegal detention, but a medical examination conducted shortly after recorded no injuries. Prosecution evidence included PW1, the appellant's teacher, who testified the appellant missed Mock examinations on the day of the shooting, and PW5, a police officer who found a blood-stained shirt, muddied jungle boots and the employer's caps at the appellant's house. The appellant raised an alibi, claiming he was working as a night guard in Kikuubo and then fell ill. The High Court convicted him on five counts of murder and sentenced him to concurrent life imprisonment.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial Judge properly admitted and relied on the appellant's retracted confession statement obtained while in custody.
  2. Whether the circumstantial evidence relied on as corroboration of the confession was sufficient to sustain the conviction.
  3. Whether the trial Judge erred in rejecting the appellant's defence of alibi without evaluating the defence evidence.
  4. Whether the sentence of life imprisonment was illegal for failing to account for the period spent on remand, or otherwise harsh and excessive.

Orders

  • Appeal against conviction dismissed.
  • Appeal against sentence dismissed.
  • Sentence of life imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, upheld.
  • Appellant to serve a sentence of imprisonment for life.

Rules and key headnotes

Criminal Evidence — Retracted Confessions — Standard for Acting on Confession
A court may act on a retracted or repudiated confession only if, after considering all the circumstances, it is fully satisfied the confession is true; while corroboration in some material particular is usually sought, it is not required in law where the court is satisfied the confession cannot but be true.
Criminal Evidence — Voluntariness of Confession — Use of Medical Report
Where an accused alleges a confession was obtained through torture, a medical examination report recording no injuries shortly after the alleged torture is relevant and may properly be relied upon to find the confession voluntary, and reliance on it does not lower the standard of proof.
Criminal Evidence — Confession to Person Other Than Police Officer — Section 23 Evidence Act
A confession made by an accused while in police custody is inadmissible against him unless made in the immediate presence of a police officer of or above the rank of assistant inspector; an admission made to a non-police officer such as a branch manager cannot be proved against the accused.
Criminal Evidence — Dying Declaration — Identification of Assailant
A dying declaration that describes an assailant only in vague terms, such as a tall, slender person wearing a red cap, without leading evidence connecting the description uniquely to the accused, cannot serve as reliable corroboration of guilt.
Criminal Evidence — Circumstantial Evidence — Inculpatory Facts Test
Before convicting on circumstantial evidence, the court must find that the inculpatory facts are incompatible with the innocence of the accused and incapable of explanation upon any reasonable hypothesis other than guilt, to a moral certainty excluding every reasonable doubt.
Defences — Alibi — Duty to Evaluate Defence Evidence
When an accused raises an alibi, the court must evaluate the prosecution and defence evidence as a whole before finding the accused placed at the scene; a failure to evaluate the alibi is a misdirection, but it does not occasion a miscarriage of justice where prosecution evidence squarely places the accused at the scene.
Sentencing — Remand Deduction — Article 23(8) and Life Imprisonment
A sentence of life imprisonment or death is not amenable to the remand deduction required by Article 23(8) of the Constitution, as that provision applies only where the sentence is for a quantifiable term capable of being deducted.

Legislation cited (8)

Cases cited (10)

  • Budri Faustino v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 0284 of 2014)
  • Katende Semakula v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 11 of 1994)
  • Bogere Moses and Another v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 1 of 1997)
  • Rwabugande Moses v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 25 of 2014)
  • Kifamunte Henry v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 10 of 1997)
  • Matovu Musa Kassim v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 27 of 2002)
  • Kazarwa Henry v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 17 of 2015)
  • Simon Musoke Vs R [1958] EA 715
  • Teper v. R. (2) AC 480
  • Magezi Gad v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 17 of 2014)

Full judgment

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

Twaha Vs Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 491 of 2014) [2019] UGCA 238 (8 August 2019)
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.