Court of Appeal sends wife killer case back to Gulu High Court for sentencing

The Court of Appeal has remitted the murder case of Geoffrey Komakech to Gulu High Court for sentencing after finding that he was convicted of murdering his wife but was never sentenced.

Justices Eva Luswata, Dr Asa Mugenyi and Musa Ssekaana sent the file back for reconsideration of sentence.

Komakech was convicted of murder on December 21, 2015, by Justice Elizabeth Nahamya but was never sentenced, prompting him to appeal against the decision.

"As we have noted, the record before us does not contain the mitigating and aggravating factors that would ordinarily guide the sentencing process. In such circumstances, we are unable to adequately exercise our sentencing discretion without risking speculation on matters that ought to be determined by the sentencing court. We are therefore persuaded that the appropriate course is to remit the matter to the High Court for the sentencing process to be reopened and the appellant to be duly sentenced in accordance with the law," the court stated.

The Court of Appeal noted that the record did not contain the mitigating and aggravating factors necessary to guide sentencing. It said imposing a sentence without this information would risk speculation on matters that should be determined by the sentencing court.

The court therefore ordered that the case be returned to the High Court for the sentencing process to be reopened and Komakech to be sentenced in accordance with the law.

Komakech, alias Lukecha, was charged with the murder of Susan Akello Lakot, his estranged partner, who was killed on the night of April 26, 2012, at Layibi Central Cell in Pece Division, Gulu district.

According to court records, Komakech and Akello had been cohabiting as a couple but had long-standing differences that led Akello to return to her parents' home.

On the night of the incident, Akello and her children slept in a separate house within her parents' compound, while her father, Andrew Olebe, and other family members slept in the main house.

Prosecution's case

The following morning, at about 8:05am, one of the deceased's relatives went to check on her after noticing that she had not come out of her house. She found the door bolted from outside and, upon opening it, discovered that the deceased had been killed, with her neck tied up. Komakech was called to the scene, where he saw the body.

Komakech reportedly disappeared from the village shortly after the killing. The matter was reported to the police, who arrested him at Anaka Town Council between June 4 and 6, 2012.

Olebe suspected Komakech because Akello had previously reported several incidents of domestic violence involving him between September and October 2011 and had asked her father to mediate between them.

Komakech reportedly disappeared from the village shortly after the killing. He was later arrested at Anaka Town Council between June 4 and 6, 2012.

During his trial, Komakech denied the charge and raised an alibi, which the court rejected. He was subsequently convicted of murder following a full trial.

The appellant argued that the trial judge erred in law by failing to sentence him after convicting him, thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice.