IN THE SUPREME COURT OF UGANDA
AT MENGO
CORAM: ODER, KAROKORA, MULENGA, KANYEIHAMBA AND KATUREEBE JJ.S.C.
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 7 OF 2004
BETWEEN
1. MBAZIRA SIRAGI
2. BAGUMA HENRY ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::APPELLANTS
AND
UGANDA::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::RESPONDENT
(Appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal (Okello, Engwau and Kitumba JJ.A) at Kampala, in Criminal Appeal No.126 of 2002, dated 8th October 2004)
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT.
Mbazira Siragi and Baguma Henry alias Karuna, the 1st and 2nd appellants in this appeal, were convicted by the High Court (Mugamba J.) at Mbarara, on two counts for simple robbery. They were both sentenced on each count to 15 years imprisonment to run concurrently. Their appeals to the Court of Appeal against conviction and sentence were dismissed, hence this second appeal.
The prosecution case may be described in two segments. The first comprises the evidence adduced to prove the robberies. The second comprises evidence on discovery of stolen items and a gun and bullets the robbers had during the robberies, which evidence was adduced to prove that the appellants were among the robbers. We would summarise the case as follows:
In the night of 23rd September 2000, at about 10 p.m., three men armed with a gun, attacked Erineo Turinawe, PW1, and his wife Winnie, PW6, at their house in which they also operated a bar. They beat the victims, tied them by the arms and forced them to lie down, while they stole diverse goods, including 17 bottles of beer, a jerrycan of waragi, a radio cassette, 30 music tapes, a handbag, a pair of trousers and a jacket, which they packed in sacks. They demanded money as they continued to beat their victims until PW6 surrendered an unascertained amount from the day’s bar sales. The robbers then ordered PW1 to cause the neighbour, Katarina Kikabahenda, PW2, to open her house cum shop. When Katarina opened, the robbers attacked her also. One of them repeatedly hit her with the butt of a gun demanding for money. while the other two stole her shop items including 10kgs of sugar, a box of soap, 3 packets of Hedex tablets, Pepsi packages, and a 4” mattress. In addition, she surrendered to the robbers shs.75,000/-. The victims reported the robberies to the LC1 Chairman and to Ishunguriro Police Post. None of them recognised their assailants. It is also noteworthy that even subsequently the victims never identified any of the appellants as one of the robbers.
On 25th September 2000, PW1 found one Kwizera Fred, PW3 playing one of his stolen music tapes. Kwizera told him he had borrowed it from Mbazira. Upon confirming from a mark on it that it was his, he sought assistance from the Local Defence Unit (LDU) at Ishunguriro detach. Four of the LDU personnel returned with him to