Uganda v Ekolu (Criminal Session Case No. 237 of 1993) [1994] UGHCCRD 33 (19 May 1994)

Flynote

Criminal law

Case summary

a.         That the victim actually died. Court held that death can be proved by other evidence other than medical evidence.  The victims’ death was proved by the fact that they were last seen alive while being taken to execution. b.         Whether the victims’ death was unlawfully caused with malice aforethought. Court found that the victims were tortured with sticks and bayonets, deadly weapons capable of causing death. The only inference one can draw is a brutal act like that is that the killers had intended to kill the victims. c.         That the accused was party to the murder. Prosecution case relied on the conduct of the accused person after the arrest of the victims. They were guarded throughout the night on his command and he separated them from the ones he didn’t want dead. The accused was never at the execution but he gave the order and the soldiers after execution reported to him about the job done.   On the issue of superior orders, court held that the accused was a principal offender within the meaning s 21 of the Penal Code Act.  Although he did no physically execute the victims, they died on his orders which make him a principal offender.

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