Uganda Court of Appeal reduces defiler's sentence by two years
Ongom entered the room and found Ojok on top of the child. She raised an alarm after failing to pull him away, attracting the girl’s father, Francis Oyoo, who entered the room and rescued his daughter. A medical examination conducted at Pajule Health Centre IV on December 22, 2012, established that the child had a recently ruptured hymen and hyperemic adnexa.
The High Court rejected Ojok's defence, convicted him of aggravated defilement and sentenced him to 35 years’ imprisonment.
KAMPALA - The Court of Appeal has reduced the prison sentence of Charles Ojok, who was convicted of aggravated defilement of a four-year-old girl, from 35 to 33 years after finding that the trial court failed to deduct the two years he spent on remand.
A panel of three justices, comprising Eva Luswata, Dr Asa Mugenyi and Musa Ssekaana, held that the failure to take the remand period into account rendered the original sentence illegal.
In its judgment, the court ordered that Ojok serve the 33-year sentence from June 24, 2014, the date he was convicted by the High Court.
Ojok had appealed against the 35-year sentence, arguing that it was harsh and excessive and that the trial judge had failed to account for the two years he spent in custody before his conviction.
The appeal arose from a High Court judgment delivered by Justice Eudes Keitirima in a case heard at Kitgum under the Gulu High Court.
According to court records, the offence occurred on December 21, 2012, at Omunyu village in Pader district.
The prosecution presented evidence that Ojok picked up Nancy Adong, then four years old, while she was playing with other children, took her into a bedroom and closed the door.
Ongom entered the room and found Ojok on top of the child. She raised an alarm after failing to pull him away, attracting the girl’s father, Francis Oyoo, who entered the room and rescued his daughter.
A medical examination conducted at Pajule Health Centre IV on December 22, 2012, established that the child had a recently ruptured hymen and hyperemic adnexa.
Ojok denied committing the offence during his trial, claiming that the allegations had been fabricated over a Sh35,000 agricultural debt allegedly owed to him by the child’s father.
The High Court rejected his defence, convicted him of aggravated defilement and sentenced him to 35 years’ imprisonment.
Through his lawyer, Paul Julius Layoo, Ojok asked the Court of Appeal to reduce the sentence to 20 years.
His lawyer argued that Ojok was a first offender, was 28 years old at the time of the offence and had spent two years on remand before conviction.
The prosecution, represented by Chief State Attorney Kizito Aliwaali, opposed the proposed reduction to 20 years but agreed that the two years spent on remand should be deducted from the sentence.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal cited Article 23(8) of the Constitution, which requires courts to take into account the period a convicted person spends in lawful custody before the completion of their trial when imposing a prison sentence.
The justices also relied on the Supreme Court decision in Rwabugande Moses Verus Uganda, which established that the remand period must be specifically credited against the sentence imposed.
The court found that the trial judge had not taken the two years Ojok spent on remand into account when imposing the 35-year sentence.
It consequently held that the sentence was illegal and proceeded to resentence him.
The justices also considered Ojok’s reliance on Kigere Edward verus Uganda, in which a 35-year sentence for aggravated defilement was reduced to 12 years.
However, the court distinguished that case, noting that the medical evidence in it established digital and superficial penetration, leaving the victim’s hymen intact.
In Ojok’s case, the medical examination established a recently ruptured hymen, and the prosecution evidence placed him on top of the four-year-old child when he was discovered in the bedroom.
The court further referred to previous decisions in which sentences of 40 years, 37 years and 43 years’ imprisonment for aggravated defilement had been upheld.
The justices ultimately deducted the two years spent on remand from Ojok’s original sentence of 35 years, leaving him with 33 years’ imprisonment, effective from June 24, 2014.