Wakilii

Uganda v Habasa Rodney (Criminal Sessions Case 135 of 2016)

High Court · [2018] UGHC 116 · 2018 Conviction on Guilty Plea AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance murder trial in High Court on indictment, plea initially not guilty then changed to guilty
Decision
Accused convicted and sentenced to 27 years 2 months imprisonment for murder of his father

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The accused was convicted of murder under s.189 of the Penal Code Act after changing his plea from not guilty to guilty. He admitted killing his father Phillipo Batimako by cutting him on the neck with a panga, believing his father had bewitched his sick wife. The court found the killing was intentional and convicted the accused on his own plea of guilty. He was sentenced to 27 years 2 months imprisonment.

Outcome

Accused convicted and sentenced to 27 years 2 months imprisonment for murder of his father

Facts

On 2 February 2016 at approximately 5:30am at Bikomero village, Kanungu District, the accused Habasa Rodney went to his father Phillipo Batimako's house. The accused's wife Agnes Nuwabiine had been sick for about 8 months and family members including the accused's mother Angellina Kubaragende and witness Kyomukama Bonnyconcila were present attending to her. The accused approached his father's house carrying a torch and panga. He asked his father twice and when the deceased opened the door, the accused said 'you have decided to kill my wife' and cut him on the left side of the neck with the panga. Witness Kyomukama raised alarm and neighbours came. The deceased was found dead. The accused fled and was arrested three months later at Kayabwe, Mpigi District. Postmortem examination by Emily Tumwikirize at Kanungu Health Center IV on 2 February 2016 found the deceased died from cut wounds causing haemorrhage, with the neck almost decapitated. The accused was examined on 11 April 2016 and found to be of normal mental state. The accused's wife died before his arrest. The accused was 30 years old at the time of examination and left three children aged 7, 5 and 2 years as orphans.

Issues

  1. Whether the accused killed Phillipo Batimako with malice aforethought.

Orders

  • Accused convicted of murder under s.189 of the Penal Code Act on his own plea of guilty.
  • Accused sentenced to 27 years 2 months imprisonment starting from 4 July 2018.

Rules and key headnotes

Murder — Guilty Plea — Conviction on Own Plea
Where an accused person changes his plea from not guilty to guilty and admits facts constituting the offence of murder, the court may convict the accused on his own plea of guilty.
Murder — Sentencing — Mitigating Factors — First Offender — Guilty Plea
In sentencing for murder, the court considers mitigating factors including that the convict is a first offender, pleaded guilty saving court time and resources, showed remorsefulness, and left orphaned children, but must balance these against the gravity of killing one's own father over unsubstantiated allegations of witchcraft.

Legislation cited (1)

Full judgment

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

Uganda v Habasa Rodney (Criminal Sessions Case 135 of 2016) [2018] UGHC 116 (5 July 2018)
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.