Wakilii

Uganda v Asobasi Richard (Criminal Sessions Case No. 117 of 2017) 2018 UGHC 57 (2018-02-26)

High Court · [2018] UGHC 57 Conviction on Guilty Plea AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Sentencing after guilty plea to murder charge during trial
Decision
Accused convicted of murder on his own guilty plea and sentenced to eighteen years and ten months imprisonment

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Held that where an accused pleads guilty to murder belatedly after being put to his defence, the court may grant a reduced sentencing discount compared to the traditional one-third reduction for early guilty pleas. Starting from thirty years imprisonment, the court applied an eighth reduction for the late guilty plea and further reductions for mitigating factors, arriving at a final sentence of eighteen years and ten months after deducting remand time.

Outcome

Accused convicted of murder on his own guilty plea and sentenced to eighteen years and ten months imprisonment

Facts

On 13 December 2016 at Maaji II Refugee Settlement Camp, the accused, a South Sudanese refugee, found the deceased on his brother's bed early in the morning. After the deceased told him to leave as he was just a refugee, the accused attacked him with a panga, inflicting multiple cut wounds on both hands, neck and other body parts, severing the carotid artery and causing spinal injury from blunt trauma. The deceased died before reaching the health centre. The accused was arrested and handed over the panga to police. Initially pleading not guilty, he changed his plea to guilty after two prosecution witnesses testified and he was put to his defence.

Issues

  1. What is the appropriate sentence for an accused convicted of murder on a guilty plea entered after defence was opened?
  2. What discount on sentence should be granted for a guilty plea entered belatedly rather than at the earliest opportunity?

Orders

  • Convict sentenced to eighteen years and ten months imprisonment.
  • Period of one year and two months spent on remand deducted from sentence.
  • Sentence to be served starting from date of judgment.

Rules and key headnotes

Murder — Sentencing — Starting Point for Custodial Sentence
The starting point for determining a custodial sentence for murder, where the death penalty is not imposed, is thirty-five years imprisonment as prescribed by Item 1 of Part I of the Third Schedule of the Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013, but this must be applied bearing in mind past precedents where facts resemble the case under trial.
Murder — Sentencing — Death Penalty — When Reserved
The death sentence for murder is usually reserved for the most egregious cases committed in a brutal, gruesome or callous manner involving deliberate, pre-meditated killing with deadly weapons in a manner reflective of wickedness, hardness of heart, cruelty and recklessness, but failed defences involving ordinary provocation not amounting to legal provocation or emotional disturbance may reduce moral blameworthiness and provide grounds for not imposing death.
Sentencing — Guilty Plea — Discount for Late Plea
An offender who pleads guilty may expect a sentencing discount, but where the plea comes belatedly at the point after the accused is put to his defence rather than at the earliest opportunity, the court may grant a reduced discount of one-eighth instead of the traditional one-third reduction.
Sentencing — Guilty Plea — Nature of Discount
The requirement to consider a guilty plea as a mitigating factor under Regulation 21(k) of the Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013 is a guide and does not confer a statutory right to a discount, which remains a matter for the court's discretion, but where a judge takes a guilty plea into account, he must say he has done so.
Sentencing — Remand Period — Mandatory Deduction
In accordance with Article 23(8) of the Constitution and Regulation 15(2) of the Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013, the court must deduct the period spent on remand from the sentence considered appropriate after all factors have been taken into account.

Legislation cited (6)

  • Penal Code Act s.188
  • Penal Code Act s.189
  • Constitution of Uganda Article 23(8)
  • Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013 Regulation 15(2)
  • Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013 Regulation 21(k)
  • Constitution (Sentencing Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions 2013 Third Schedule Part I Item 1

Cases cited (8)

  • Ninsiima v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 180 of 2010)
  • Bukenya v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 51 of 2007)
  • Sebuliba Siraji v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 319 of 2009)
  • Uganda v Businge Kugonza (Criminal Sessions Case No. 162 of 2012)
  • Uganda v Ocitti Alex and another (Criminal Sessions Case No. 0428 of 2014)
  • Uganda v Mutebi Muhamed and another (Criminal Sessions Case No. 038 of 2011)
  • Tom Sazi Sande alias Hussein Saddam v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 127 of 2009)
  • R v Fearon [1996] 2 Cr. App. R (S) 25

Full judgment

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Uganda v Asobasi Richard (Criminal Sessions Case No. 117 of 2017) 2018 UGHC 57 (2018-02-26)
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.