Appellate court enhances jail term for sodomy convict to 33 years

MASAKA, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | The Court of Appeal has enhanced a jail sentence for a sodomy convict to 33 years in prisons up from the 32 initially granted. A panel of the Court Appeal comprising Justices Hellen Obura, Christopher Gashirabake, and Eva Luswata on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by Yakobo Byakaye alias Musolo,53 years, who sought to challenge the prison sentence granted to him by Masaka High Court Judge.

In 2016, the former Masaka High Court Judge Flavian Zeija, sentenced Byakaye to 32 years in prison after finding him guilty of sodomizing a 9-year-old boy, whom he intercepted at the Golf Course in Masaka city. On his sentencing, the trial High Court ruled that the convict committed a beastly act on the victim who is also minor, which qualified him to get a severe sentence to send a warning signal to other would-be offenders.

However, the convict through Joshua Naluswa, a lawyer on state brief, appealed against the jail sentence, arguing that the trial High Court judge was too harsh to him, to the extent that he did not consider the 2 years he had spent on remand. The convict requested the Court of Appeal to set aside the initial sentence and grant him a lenient penalty by taking into consideration his advanced age and the period he spent to remand.

But the three Justices during their special criminal session in Masaka dismissed the appeal and instead added the convict an additional year on top of the initial 32 years jail sentence. In a joint judgment read by Justice Christopher Gashirabake, the Court of Appeal held that the convict committed a grave offense that left permanent injuries to the victim, who may also not regain his full health.

Court ruled that the trial Judge examined the circumstances of the offense, but was a little lenient while granting the sentence of 32 years, a punishment for typical defilement offenders. The justices accordingly dismissed the appeal and extended the sentence, ruling that the convict deserved a serious punishment as a way of isolating him from the boy, who suffered bodily and emotional torture occasioned by the defilement.

The Court of Appeal has also upheld a life imprisonment sentence for a 54-year-old father who was convicted for defiling his twin daughter. Patrick Kaggwa, a resident of Rakai district had appealed against a life imprisonment sentence granted to him by Masaka High Court in 2011 after he was convicted for defiling his 12-year-old daughter.

The convicted had pleaded that the trial judge based his judgment on hearsay and uncollaborated evidence from witnesses who were not sure about the details of the offense. He also argued that the victim never testified in the court. However, the Court of Appeal Justices upheld the sentence, which they held was based on substantial evidence including a medical report that indicated the rapturing of the victim’s sexual organs.

The Justices noted that the convict committed a grave offense when he abused his natural trust as a biological father to the victim. “The court heard that the victim was sickly and was suffering from Tuberculosis and died a week after she made the report. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the defilement was repeated, and most likely done in the presence of the victim’s twin sister. The victim before death had also intimidated that you could strangle her while abusing her, which could have deteriorated her health condition,” the ruling reads in part.

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