Wakilii

Uganda v No. 40709 Sgt. Mukerege and Another (CRIMINAL SESSION CASH NO, 346 OF 1991)

High Court · [1993] UGHC 114 · 1993 Acquittal Entered AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance criminal trial on indictment — ruling on no case to answer submission by defence
Decision
Accused A2 Bahemuka Patrick acquitted and discharged

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The High Court upheld a submission of no case to answer and acquitted the accused A2 Bahemuka Patrick. The available prosecution evidence did not connect the accused with the offences of murder, robbery, and attempted murder. No reasonable tribunal properly directing its mind to the evidence and the law would proceed to convict if the accused offered no evidence at the close of the prosecution case. No prima facie case was established.

Outcome

Accused A2 Bahemuka Patrick acquitted and discharged

Facts

The accused A2 Bahemuka Patrick was charged with the murder of Rusoke Augustine and Kabasita, robbery, and attempted murder. A1 Sgt. Mukerege escaped from custody and was not before the court. The prosecution case rested on postmortem reports showing the two deceased persons were dead, evidence of arrest from Reuben Kasaija, and testimony from Tedora Biryomunda. Biryomunda testified that attackers assaulted her at her home, took property, and she recognised Mukerege by torchlight but did not know the second attacker. She was blinded, cut, rendered unconscious, and only discovered two weeks later that Rusoke and Kabasita had been killed. Defence counsel submitted no case to answer at the close of the prosecution case. The state conceded to the submission.

Issues

  1. Whether the prosecution adduced sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case against the accused A2 Bahemuka Patrick on the charges of murder, robbery, and attempted murder.

Orders

  • Submission of no case to answer upheld.
  • Accused A2 Bahemuka Patrick found not guilty and acquitted under s.71(1) of the Trial on Indictments Decree.

Rules and key headnotes

Criminal Law & Procedure — No Case to Answer — Test for Upholding Submission
A submission of no case to answer must be upheld where a reasonable tribunal properly directing its mind to the evidence and the law would not proceed to convict if the accused decided to offer no evidence at the close of the prosecution case.
Evidence — Burden of Proof — Prima Facie Case — Absence of Evidence Connecting Accused to Offence
Where the prosecution evidence does not in any way connect the accused with the alleged offences, no prima facie case has been made out and the accused must be acquitted.

Legislation cited (2)

  • Trial on Indictments Decree s.71(1)
  • Trial on Indictments Decree s.64

Cases cited (1)

  • Bhatt v R (1957) DA 332

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Uganda v No. 40709 Sgt. Mukerege and Another (CRIMINAL SESSION CASH NO, 346 OF 1991) [1993] UGHC 114 (7 December 1993)
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.