Civil Remedies

Kazibwe Kassim v Uganda ((Criminal Appeal No.1 of 2003)) [2004] UGSC 23 (22 July 2004);

Flynote: 

Search Summary: 

This was a second appeal. It is from a judgment of the Court
of Appeal dated 18th February 2003 in which the Court of
Appeal quashed the conviction and set aside a death sentence
for murder and substituted a conviction of manslaughter and a
sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

Court considered whether the learned Justices of Appeal erred
in law when they convicted the appellant for the offence of
manslaughter in absence of evidence proving that he was
responsible for the death of the deceased.

Court ruled that failure by prosecution to call police to testify
about what they observed at the scene of crime, (if anything)
indicating whether or not another person could have come to
the scene during the appellant's absence, inflicted fatal
injuries upon the deceased and left the bottle of poison
remained unresolved. Court was of the view that although the
prosecution case wholly depended on circumstantial evidence,
in order for the Court of Appeal to act on such evidence, the
inculpatory facts against the appellant must be incompatible
with the innocence of the appellant and incapable of
explanation upon any other reasonable hypothesis than that of
guilt.

Court accordingly allowed the appeal, quashed the verdict of
manslaughter and set aside the sentence of 10 years
imprisonment.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Civil Remedies