The Court of Appeal has told an HIV positive man who defiled a 14-year-old girl, that the 29-year imprisonment the trial court gave him is quite appropriate under the circumstances.

The appellant had opposed the conviction and the sentence of 29 years handed to him by High Court Judge Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya as being harsh and excessive.

He had also faulted the court for failure to evaluate the whole evidence on record. However, upon hearing the appeal, through his pleader Samuel David Kyozira on state brief, the appellant dropped all the grounds except that against the sentence as being excessive and harsh.

John Othieno’s criminal appeal was dismissed on October 1, and this was held via a video link using Zoom technology from Kirinnya, Jinja Prison, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, Justices Cheborion Barishaki and Hellen Obura presided over the court.

Giving their ruling, the appellate court agreed with senior assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Caroline Hope Nabaasa, that the appellant had failed to demonstrate how the sentence was harsh and excessive.

The state attorney had also asked the court to enhance the appellant’s sentence, arguing that he had traumatised the victim for the rest of her life.

“Considering that the offence of aggravated defilement attracts a maximum sentence of death and the circumstances of this case; a sentence of 29 years is at a low end. The aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors,” the attorney said.

“The sentence of 29 years’ imprisonment imposed on the appellant by the trial court was not illegal nor based on wrong principles and neither was it manifestly excessive considering the circumstances of this case,” the court ruled.