REASONS FOR THE DECISION OF THE COURT

On the 9th of March 1999 the appellant was convicted, by the High Court, for defiling a seven year old girl, contrary to section 123 (1) of the Penal Code Act. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. With leave of this Court, he appealed against the sentence only. We heard the appeal and dismissed it for reasons which were reserved. We now give them.

The appeal is based on two grounds, namely, (a) that the learned trial Judge erred in sentencing the appellant without first hearing him in allocutus and (b) that the learned trial Judge erred in imposing a sentence which is manifestly excessive, although not illegal, as the appellant was a first offender, was aged 32 years and had been on remand for about two years.

Mr. Paulo Mpungu, who represented the appellant, submitted, on the first ground, that as a matter of practice, the accused should be asked to address court on the question of sentence. He had no authority on the point. He could have cited, for what is worth, section 93 of the Trial on Indictments Decree, 1971 which states:

In our view although failure to hear the accused on sentence is not fatal under the above provision, a trial court should always ensure that the accused or his Counsel, if he has one, is heard regarding sentence so that the court is able to take into account all relevant matters in assessing sentence. In the case before us the appellant was represented by Counsel, Mr. Bwengye, who addressed the court on sentence thus:

It seems clear to us that Counsel was speaking on instructions from the appellant. We do not see what more the appellant could have added. We therefore saw no merit in the first ground.

With regard to the second ground, Mr. Mpungu was unable to show how or why the sentence was manifestly excessive. His claim that the trial Judge had not taken into account the period the appellant had spent on remand could not stand as the record shows clearly that the trial Judge considered the point not once, but twice. The offence of defilement carries a maximum sentence of death. That sentence has yet to be imposed. On average a sentence of 15 years imprisonment is imposed. This was a bad case where the appellant defiled his landlord’s child when he should have protected her. As expected, the seven year old victim was badly injured in the private parts in the process. As the learned trial Judge observed when passing sentence, it is necessary for defilers to be given sentences that will teach them a lesson
“never to destroy the lives of the young and vulnerable in our society”
We did not think that in the circumstances of this case the sentence imposed was manifestly excessive. That is why we dismissed the appeal.

DATED at KAMPALA this 21^st Day of July, 2000.