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HC: Criminal Division (Uganda)

The Criminal Division is Responsible for hearing all serious criminal offences referred to it by the Magistrates' Courts. According to the Principal Judge's Circular, except for Commercial Court Judges who must attend to only Commercial Court cases, the rest of the Judges of the High Court who are based in Kampala are members of the Criminal Division irrespective of the other Divisions of the High Court that they belong to.

Each of the above judges is supposed to do, at least, one High Court Criminal Session in a year at Kampala

Physical address
High Court Building at Plot 2, the Square.
Visit website
https://judiciary.go.ug/data/smenu/13/Criminal%20Division.html
11 judgments
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11 judgments
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Judgment date
January 2023
Uganda v Byenkya and Another (Criminal Session 655 of 2019) [2023] UGHCCRD 13 (25 January 2023)
Accused acquitted where death and malice were shown but participation was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Criminal law – Murder – elements: death, unlawful act, malice aforethought, participation; Evidence – requirement for direct oral evidence (s.59 Evidence Act); Hearsay and unnamed witnesses – inadmissible/insufficient to prove participation; Adverse inference from accused’s silence – limited evidential value.
 25 January 2023
Kinobe v Uganda (Criminal Miscellaneous Application 81 of 2022) [2023] UGHCCRD 98 (19 January 2023)
19 January 2023
Kinobe v Uganda (Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 81 of 2022) [2023] UGHCCRD 1 (19 January 2023)
19 January 2023
Ntege v Uganda (Criminal Appeal No. 70 of 2022) [2023] UGHCCRD 17 (19 January 2023)
Appellant’s honest claim of right to land negated mens rea; boundary disputes are for civil courts.
Criminal law – Honest claim of right (s.7 Penal Code) – An honest belief in ownership negates mens rea; burden on prosecution to disprove beyond reasonable doubt; land boundary/ownership disputes are civil matters; admissibility and weight of survey reports as evidence.
 19 January 2023
Uganda v Weraga (Criminal Session 8 of 2020) [2023] UGHCCRD 12 (19 January 2023)
Uncorroborated unsworn testimony of a child of tender years cannot safely support a conviction for aggravated defilement.
Criminal law – Aggravated defilement; evidence – unsworn testimony of a child of tender years and requirement of corroboration under s.40(3) Trial on Indictment Act; identification – mistaken identity defence; evidential weight of medical report; failure to exhibit physical exhibits.
 19 January 2023
Serukwaya and 3 Others v Uganda (Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 19 of 2022) [2023] UGHCCRD 3 (17 January 2023)
17 January 2023
Ssendaula v Uganda (Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 9 of 2018) [2023] UGHCCRD 2 (16 January 2023)
16 January 2023
Wamala v Uganda (Criminal Miscellaneous Application 67 of 2022) [2023] UGHCCRD 43 (11 January 2023)
11 January 2023
Wamala v Uganda (Criminal Miscellaneous Application 67 of 2022) [2023] UGHCCRD 87 (11 January 2023)
11 January 2023
Kyagaba Charles (Suing through Mulindwa) v Uganda (Criminal Miscellaneous Application 67 of 2023) [2023] UGHCCRD 180 (9 January 2023)
Court dismissed anticipatory bail seeking to bar arrest in overlapping land-dispute prosecutions, upholding Police and DPP investigatory mandate.
Constitutional law – Article 23 (personal liberty) and Article 50 (enforcement of fundamental rights) – anticipatory bail considered as Article 50 remedy. Criminal procedure – anticipatory bail not expressly provided under Ugandan law; court may treat relief as constitutional enforcement. Separation of powers – limits on court ordering Police/DPP conduct; refusal to interfere with investigatory/prosecutorial mandate. Criminalisation of land disputes – multiple criminal files arising from ongoing civil land suits; need for demonstrable breach to bar prosecutions.
 9 January 2023
Uganda v Eiru (HCT-09-CR-SC 107 of 2018) [2023] UGHCCRD 5 (5 January 2023)
5 January 2023