Court of Appeal cuts defiler's jail term by almost half

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The Court of Appeal has overturned a 32-year jail term handed to a man convicted of defiling a 9-year-old girl. 

Justices Muzamiru Kibeedi, Christopher Gashirabake, and Oscar Kihika, in their unanimous ruling on November 30, 2023, reduced Police Nduguru’s sentence to a 20-year imprisonment. 

After factoring in the time spent in remand, the court further reduced the term to 17 years' imprisonment. 

The judges stated, "We deduct two and a half years’ imprisonment for the time the appellant spent on remand and sentence him to 17 years and six months imprisonment from the day of his conviction on January 9, 2015." 

They found the initial sentence of 32 and a half years too severe and lacking in consideration for the appellant. Considering both mitigating and aggravating factors presented during the conviction, the justices revised the sentence.

"This court, like the High Court, under Section 11 of the Judicature Act, proceeded to re-evaluate the appellant’s sentence. Adopting the mitigating and aggravating factors as laid out by the trial judge, we are convinced that a sentence of 20 years imprisonment from the day of conviction will serve the interests of justice," the court elaborated in its judgment. 

Nduguru had been found guilty of defiling a 9-year-old girl on July 8, 2012, in Kanyarnishekuro village, Rukungiri District. 

His appeal challenged the sentence, arguing that the trial judge had made an error in law and fact by imposing an excessively harsh term without due consideration for mitigating circumstances. 

He was 35 years old at the time he committed the offence.