COURT | RAPISTS | GHAI

KAMPALA - A man who was sentenced to 30 years in jail over rape, will now serve 14 years after the Court of Appeal (COA) reduced the sentence.

Sadik Ghai, 43, had appealed against the decision of the High Court, complaining that the trial judge meted out a harsh, excessive and illegal sentence against him.

Prosecution says Ghai on February 11, 2011 at Namaliga Village LC I Bombo Town Council in Luwero district had sex with a woman (name withheld) without her consent. Court documents indicate that Ghai broke into a house and struggled the victim before raping her.

In a judgment dated July 26, 2022, the COA Justices Catherine Bamugemereire, Christopher Madrama and Eva Luswata upheld Ghai’s conviction on grounds that he was properly identified with distinctive features which led to his arrest.

“The victim was able to identify the convict clearly without the possibility of having mistaken him for someone else with his eye defects,” Bamugemereire noted.

The justices, however, found that the three years and 10 months Ghai spent on remand was not taken into account by the trial judge.

“The trial judge did not deduct the period Ghai spent in lawful custody before his conviction and we hereby set it aside. We find the sentence illegal,” the judges ruled.

The justices, however, said the offence committed by Ghai is serious and premeditated, saying that he (Ghai) broke into the victim’s house at about 3:00am and raped her.

“He tried to struggle the victim to keep her from shouting. He injured her neck and caused other injuries which appear in the medical report. It was a brutal assault which requires a deterrent sentence,” Bamugemereire observed.

The Justices, however, said Ghai deserved a deterrent sentence and found the 18-year-jail term appropriate for him.

However, the justices deducted the period the victim spent in pre-trial detention before his conviction on December 13, 2014, and directed that he serves 14 years imprisonment, commencing from the date of his conviction.

Court records indicate that Ghai was arrested on February 12, 2011, after commission of the offence and remanded in custody until his conviction on December 13, 2014.