Wakilii

Uganda v Guudo Bosco & Musasizi Eseza (Criminal Session 29 of 2023)

High Court · [2023] UGHC 216 · 2023 Accused Discharged — No Case to Answer AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal trial at first instance; ruling on no case to answer at close of prosecution case
Decision
Accused persons discharged at close of prosecution case

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court held that at the close of the prosecution case, the State failed to establish a prima facie case of murder. The postmortem evidence was unreliable and the Medical Officer did not conduct internal examination to rule out natural causes. All witnesses testified that the child was sick with a disease before death. There was insufficient evidence linking the accused to any unlawful act causing death or proving malice aforethought. The accused were discharged under Section 73(1) of the Trial on Indictments Act.

Outcome

Accused persons discharged at close of prosecution case

Facts

The accused persons, Guudo Bosco (the father) and Musasizi Eseza, were charged with the murder of two-year-old Jordan Kitimbo at Nankulyaka Village, Jinja District on 18 August 2022. The child's mother (PW3) testified that the child had been suffering from a disease locally known as 'Olwenyanja' for over 12 months, characterised by reddish wounds that spread across the body. She took the child to the father (A1) for treatment with local herbal medicine. PW2, the LC1 Chairman, testified that he visited the accused's home and observed the sick child with blisters oozing fluid, and he advised that the child be taken to hospital. A1 called the maternal grandfather (PW4) on 17 August 2022 to inform him the child was sick, and on 18 August called again saying he was taking the child to Buwenge Hospital, where the child later died. A postmortem was conducted by Dr Nabirye Juliet (PW6), a Medical Officer, who concluded that the probable cause of death was burns from hot water based on external observations of peeling skin and blisters. No internal examination was conducted due to inadequate mortuary facilities.

Issues

  1. Whether the prosecution established a prima facie case of murder against the accused persons sufficient to put them on their defence.
  2. Whether the death of the deceased child was unlawful.
  3. Whether the death was caused with malice aforethought.
  4. Whether the accused persons participated in causing the unlawful death.

Orders

  • Submission of no case to answer upheld.
  • Accused persons found not guilty of murder.
  • Accused persons discharged of the offence under Section 73(1) of the Trial on Indictments Act Cap 23 as amended.

Rules and key headnotes

Prima Facie Case — No Case to Answer — Test and Standard
A prima facie case is established when the evidence adduced is such that a reasonable tribunal, properly directing its mind on the law and evidence, would convict the accused if no evidence or explanation was set up by the defence. The evidence must be sufficient to require the accused to offer an explanation, lest he runs the risk of conviction. A prima facie case cannot be established by a mere scintilla of evidence or by any amount of worthless, discredited prosecution evidence.
No Case to Answer — Grounds for Upholding
A charge may be dismissed at the close of the prosecution case where the court is satisfied that there has been no evidence to prove an essential element of the alleged offence, or where the evidence adduced by the prosecution has been so discredited as a result of cross-examination or is so manifestly unreliable that no reasonable tribunal could safely convict on it.
Documentary Evidence — Postmortem Report — Authenticity and Reliability
A postmortem report is false if it purports to have been made by a person who did not in fact make it in that form. Where a postmortem report has been partially filled by another person when it should only be filled by the Medical Officer who conducted the examination, the report fails the test of qualifying as an authentic document that should be relied upon by the court.
Expert Evidence — Medical Evidence — Duty to Exclude Alternative Causes
Where a Medical Officer concludes that the cause of death is the 'most likely' or 'probable' cause based solely on external observations without conducting internal examination or requisite tests to rule out other possibilities including natural disease, the court must treat such evidence with caution as it does not exclude other reasonable explanations for the death.
Murder — Malice Aforethought — Proving Mental Element
Malice aforethought is defined as either an intention to cause death or knowledge that the act or omission causing death will probably cause death. In deciding whether there was malice aforethought, the court should consider the type of weapon used, the nature of injuries inflicted, the part of the body affected, and the conduct of the attacker before and after the attack.
Circumstantial Evidence — Standard for Conviction
In a case depending exclusively upon circumstantial evidence, the court must find before deciding upon conviction that the exculpatory facts are incompatible with the innocence of the accused and incapable of explanation upon any other reasonable hypothesis than that of guilt. Before drawing the inference of the accused's responsibility from circumstantial evidence, it is necessary to be sure that there are no other co-existing circumstances which would weaken or destroy the inference.
Hearsay Evidence — Inadmissibility
Evidence of what the witness was told by persons not called to testify constitutes hearsay and is inadmissible to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Where a Scene of Crime Officer testifies to mistreatment of the deceased based on what he was told by community members who are not called as witnesses, such evidence is treated as hearsay.

Legislation cited (10)

Cases cited (13)

  • Fred Sabahashi v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 23 of 1993)
  • Uganda v Ssebuwufu Mohammed and 7 Others (Criminal Case No. 493 of 2015)
  • Simbwa v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 23 of 2012)
  • Uganda v Obur Ronald and 3 Others (Criminal Appeal No. 7 of 2019)
  • Rananlal T. Bhatt v R. [1957] EA 332
  • Uganda v Anyao Milton (Criminal Session No. 5 of 2017)
  • R v. Gusambizi s/o Wesonga (1948) 15 EACA 65
  • R v. Tubere s/o Ochen (1945) 12 EACA 63
  • Uganda v Kisembo (Criminal Session No. 203 of 2014)
  • Shubadin Merali and another v. Uganda [1963] EA 647
  • Simon Musoke v. R [1958] EA 715
  • Teper v. R [1952] AC 480
  • Onyango v. Uganda [1967] EA 328

Full judgment

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

Uganda v Guudo Bosco & Musasizi Eseza (Criminal Session 29 of 2023) [2023] UGHC 216 (28 September 2023)
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.