MBALE– Court of Appeal Justices Irene Mulyagonja, Margaret Tibulya and Moses Kazibwe have concluded the hearing of 26 criminal appeals at Mbale High Court.
Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera flagged off the session dominated by Murder appeals(11) on Monday, March 10th, 2025. Other appeals included ten (10) on Defilement, two (02) each on Aggravated Robbery and Rape, and a second appeal for the offence of Causing Grievous Harm.
The Justices delivered decisions in seventeen (17)appeals and reserved judgments in nine(09) appeals, representing a 65% clearance rate within the session. Of the 17 concluded appeals, six appeals were allowed, resulting in re-sentencing the Appellants, while eleven (11) appeals were dismissed.
Among the appeals dismissed are two; one where the Appellant unsuccessfully sought to overturn a 23-year prison term for the murder of his biological brother against who he had sworn enmity and another in which a father unsuccessfully sought to overturn a prison term of 25 years for defiling his 7-year-old daughter and risking her exposure to HIV.
In a post-session feedback meeting, Ms Caroline Nabaasa, the Principal Assistant DPP and head of the Appellate Unit at ODPP, recounted the milestones achieved in appellate criminal hearings, including timely filing of submissions, which in turn leads to timely delivery of judgments, mentorship of new State Attorneys by attaching them to Senior Attorneys leading to enhanced quality of submissions, enhanced coordination and collaboration with registry which improved the records supplied, and timely access to decisions which they use for training purposes.
Ms Nabaasa nonetheless raised concerns about the poor framing of grounds of appeal and encouraged Advocates to seek training and mentorship. She further advised that the cause listing should be spaced to give ODPP officials room to prepare adequately.
She also raised concerns about ‘slashing’ sentences of trial courts, noting the need for a more profound differentiation of precedents to stabilize the application of the principle of consistency in sentencing.
Speaking on behalf of State Brief Advocates, Mr Geoffrey Nappa highlighted the delay in hearing some appeals, which led to a miscarriage of justice. He welcomed Ms Nabaasa’s suggestion on targeted mentorship and undertook to relay the message to the ULS Eastern zone representative.
The Justices thanked all the actors for performing their respective tasks on time.
Justice Margaret Tibulya noted that timely submissions enabled timely decisions. Justice Moses Kazibwe, who handled the pre-hearing session, thanked the ODPP team for adhering to the three-day filing timeline.
He took exception to a few poorly drafted grounds of appeal, noting that they did not reflect a critical analysis of the appeal records. He encouraged ODPP to consider counter-appeals where demands of justice are required.
The head of the Panel, Lady Justice Irene Mulyagonja, encouraged all actors always to do their part to dispense justice: “We are all officers of Court. Therefore, we must administer justice in the best way possible.” she called on lawyers on State Brief to take instructions seriously, do in-depth research and to avoid unnecessary appeals. She encouraged them to be objective while advising their assigned clients.
Regarding gaps in framing grounds of appeal, Justice Mulyagonja noted that it was a training need she would take up with the Law Council.
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