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.
22 judgments
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22 judgments
Citation
Judgment date
October 2023
30 October 2023
26 October 2023
Court must ensure interpreter’s dialect competence; failure to do so can vitiate a guilty plea and require retrial.
Criminal procedure – Right to interpreter – Court’s duty to ascertain accused’s language and interpreter’s competence – Dialect-specific interpretation – Failure to provide adequate interpretation amounts to substantial miscarriage of justice – Guilty plea invalidated where accused did not meaningfully understand proceedings.
25 October 2023
19 October 2023
Court convicted five accused of kidnap, murder and aggravated robbery; acquitted a sixth for lack of participation.
* Criminal law – Kidnap with intent to murder – elements: forcible taking, against will, intent to kill inferred from subsequent murder. * Criminal law – Murder – malice aforethought inferred from nature and severity of blunt force head injuries; post‑mortem and medical evidence. * Criminal law – Aggravated robbery – theft, violence, deadly weapon, and participation; corroboration by mobile‑money withdrawals and witnesses. * Evidence – accomplice testimony, confessions and scene‑reconstruction video admissible if voluntary and corroborated. * Evidence – call‑data analysis and circumstantial evidence can corroborate participation and movements. * Defence – late alibi may be afforded little weight. * Criminal liability – common intention under section 20 establishes joint liability.
19 October 2023
17 October 2023
17 October 2023
17 October 2023
17 October 2023
16 October 2023
16 October 2023
16 October 2023
12 October 2023
12 October 2023
12 October 2023
12 October 2023
12 October 2023
12 October 2023
12 October 2023

Criminal law—obtaining money by false pretense—revisionary powers—discretion to stay proceedings—same transaction rule—overlapping criminal and civil issues—subject matter consistency—prejudice to accused—abuse of process—conflicting judgments—procedural fairness—Section 209 Magistrates Courts Act—judicial discretion—expeditious trials—Director of Public Prosecutions' powers—civil-criminal case balance.

11 October 2023
6 October 2023
5 October 2023