BISHOP STUART UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF LAW

PROGRAM : BACHELOR OF LAWS

YEAR OF STUDY : THREE

SEMESTER : TWO

Lecturer : COUNSEL NOWANGYE JACENT

Course unit : EVIDENCE LAW 2

NAMES REGISTRATION NUMBERS

KIIZA IVAN : 19/BSU/LLB/072

AHIKIRIZA BARBARA : 19/BSU/LLB/073

BEHAMYA JORDAN : 19/BSU/LLB/076

GUMISIRIZA BRINTON : 19/BSU/LLB/077

NATUKUNDA PATIENCE : 19/BSU/LLB/078

AMUBWIINE AIDEN : 19/BSU/LLB/079

ATURINDE PRIZE : 19/BSU/LLB/083

ASASIRWE SHIFRA : 19/BSU/LLB/084

ABAHO DELLON : 19/BSU/LLB/085

Brief facts

Mzee Kakama Yosaamu was killed in the night of 12 the July 2022. It is said that Mzee Kamama
had 12 children, 6 girls and 6 boys born, from the same mother called jolly kakama. And it is
believed that one of his son mukombozi' s girl friend for whom he had impregnated is cause of
death of Mzee mukombozi. After, Mukombozi’s sister, Nakato, convinced her mother to get
Mukombozi’s girlfriend to their home with the child of Mukombozi for which she did. After two
years, Mzee Kakama got interested in this girl, the girlfriend to major Mukombozi. eventually
found out that actually this girl had a two months’ pregnancy of Mzee Kakama. In the night of
12th July 2022, a group of people came to the new home of Mzee Kakama. According to the
shamba boy, Junior Kabuzi, he saw the assailants through the window: three men were armed
with big sticks, two men had pangas and one had a gun. They reached at the door of Mzee
Kakama, demanded him to open, he refused, they banged the door, broke it and entered. The
shamba boy heard them speak to the new wife “we are not interested in you, we just want you to
become a widow”. And heard Mzee Kakama wailing and crying for mercy and after about one
hour, he kept quiet. In the morning of 13th July 2022, Mzee Kakama was reported dead. Medical
report showed that he was found with a deep wound in the chest, suspected to have been of a
gun, a deep cut on the head, suspected to have been of a big knife, bruises, external and internal
breeding. And the postmortem report indicates that the cause of death was as a result of both
external and internal breeding caused by the afflictions made upon the late Kakama and
According to investigations, a gun was recovered from the nearby cattle farm, the knife was
behind the late’s house and two sticks were in the sitting room.

ISSUES

Issue 1: What key information missing which is needed as part of evidence for the proper
prospection of this case?

Issue 2: What key pieces of evidence are needed to corroborate the other for proper prosecution
of the case?

Issue 3: What are different exhibits that needed to be properly handled and how the police
should handle them?
Issue 4: What are the key contents of an exhibit slip with the reference to the exhibit in this case?

Issue 5: How can the chain of evidence be properly managed?

Issue 6: How many witnesses should talk about the exhibits for corroboration purposes?

Issue 7: Who is the last appropriate person to tender the evidence of the gun exhibit in court?

Law applicable

 1995 constitution of the republic of Uganda

 Evidence act

 Magistrates court act

 Criminal procedure code act

 Police act

 Case law

Resolution

Issue 1: What key information is missing which is needed as part of evidence for the proper
prosecution of this case?

The rationale behind the burden of proof being on the prosecution is the presumption of
innocence provided for under article 28(3)(a) of the constitution of republic of Uganda which
provides, every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until
proved guilty or until that person has pleaded guilty.

In addition, section 101 of the evidence act provides that whoever desires any court to give
judgment as to any legal right or liability dependent on the existence of facts which he or she
asserts must prove that those facts exist. When a person is bound to prove the existence of any
fact, it’s said that the burden of proof lies on that person.
The burden of proving any fact necessary to be proved in order to enable any person to give
evidence of any other fact is on the person who wishes to give that evidence.

The prosecution therefore has a duty to prove a case against the accused beyond reasonable
doubt.

In relation to the facts the prosecution therefore has the burden of proving that the accused
committed the offence. This is going to be with the help of various forms of evidence for
example exhibits from the scene of crime and any other information that will aid the prosecution
in this case. The following missing information is necessary for proper prosecution of this case;

First, the prosecution needs to inquire into the details of the widow including the name to
ascertain whether she is a competent witness to testify as a prosecution witness.

Secondly, the shamba boy`s age also has to be known by the prosecution for proper prosecution
and where he is found to be of tender age, his evidence will require corroboration.

Richard Githuki Wameru Vs Ug. Cr. App. No. 20/1973, court stated that if the evidence of a
particular witness is credit worthy, and if in law and according to practice corroboration is
required, he then looks to see if there is corroboration.

It is a requirement of judicial practice that when a child of tender years gives unsworn evidence,
such evidence required corroboration. In the case of Patrick Akol Vs Ug; Sup.Ct Cr. App. No.
23/1992, court stated that evidence of a child of tender years is risky to act upon without
corroboration but corroboration is not a requirement of the law. It is for the court to weigh the
reliability of the evidence of a particular unsworn witness.

The prosecution also has to know which hospital which carried out the post mortem report and
medical report together with the doctor who carried them out.

The person who carried out the investigation and also recovered the exhibits from the scene and
also know where they were kept for use as evidence in court. In Paul Omale Us Uganda Cr,
Appeal No. 6/1977, the Court of Appeal noted that prosecuting Attorneys should be careful to
ensure that the chain of evidence as to exhibits should not be tampered with. It must be complete
before attempting to produce such exhibit during the trial.
Issue 2: What key pieces of evidence are needed to corroborate the other for proper
prosecution of the case?

Facts which are the occasion, the cause or the effect, immediate or otherwise, of relevant facts, or
facts in issue, or which constitute the state of things under which they happened, or which
afforded an opportunity for their occurrence or transaction, are relevant.

Section 59 of the evidence act provides that Oral evidence must, in all cases whatever, be direct;
that is to say if it refers to a fact which could be heard, it must be the evidence of a witness who
says he or she saw it;

a) if it refers to a fact which could be seen, it must be the evidence of a witness who says he or
she heard it;

Section 60 of the evidence act provides that the contents of documents maybe proved either by
primary or by secondary evidence.
Section 61 of the evidence act provides that Primary evidence means the document itself
produced for the inspection of the court.
The court may presume the existence of any fact which t thinks likely to have happened, regard
being had to the common course of natural events, human conduct and public and private
business, in their relation to the facts of the particular case.
Section 156 of the evidence act provides that in order to corroborate the testimony of the
witness, any former statements made by the witness, relating to the same fact, at about the time
when the fact took place, before any authority legally competent to investigate the fact, may be
proved.
In connection to the above the evidence of the shamba boy can be corroborated by the evidence
of the medical report and post mortem evidence of the exhibits that were recovered.
Issue 3: What are different exhibits needed to be properly handled and how the police should
handle them?
An exhibit was defined in R V LUSHINGTON EXP OTTA [1984]1 QB 420 as a document or
other thing shown to a witness and referred to by the witness in evidence.

The following are the exhibits;

1) The gun which was recovered in the nearby farm
2) The knife which was recovered behind the late`s house
3) Two sticks that were in the sitting room.
Any police officer investigating alleged crimes has a duty to record and retain material which
may be relevant to the investigation
Section 29(1) of the police act cap 303 provides for a seizure and retention of property by police
and Subsection (1) A police officer who is lawfully are any premises or any other place may
seize anything there if he or she has reasonable ground to believe (a) that there thing might be
used as an exhibit in relation to an offence.
As a general rule the court entrust the prosecution with exhibits pending trial and
after committal.
The prosecution duty was brought out in the case of R V Stipendiary magistrate at Lambetti and
another exp Mc Comb [1983]1ALLER 321. Sir John Donaldson Mr. Defined the prosecution
duty towards documents to take proper care to preserve the exhibits from loss or damage to
cooperate with the defense in order to allow them reasonable access to exhibits for purposes of
inspection and examination and produce exhibits for trial.
When an exhibit is recovered, n criminal matters it must be reported to police and recorded in the
police exhibit book, marked and kept in the exhibit store at police. A document called an exhibit
slip must be prepared giving particulars of the exhibit.
A person who recovered the exhibit must testify in court and tender it is for identification
purposes. This person is not the right person to tender the exhibit to be admitted by court and
marked as an exhibit. An exhibit store keeper, who also has in his/her custody an exhibit slip is
the right person to bring the exhibit to be received and marked as an exhibit for evidential
purposes.
An exhibit that is tendered in court without exhibit slips are capable of being rejected in
evidence.

An exhibit must be kept in an exhibit store and should not be tampered with up to the time of
producing it in court.

When any such thing is seized and brought before a court, it may be detained until the conclusion
of the case or the investigation, reasonable care being taken for its preservation as prescribed in
the section 73(1) of the magistrates court act.

In Paul Omale Us Uganda Cr, Appeal No. 6/1977, the Court of Appeal noted that prosecuting
Attorneys should be careful to ensure that the chain of evidence as to exhibits should not be
tampered with. It must be complete before attempting to produce such exhibit during the trial.

In the case of Uganda v Albino Ojok (1974) HCB 176 it was held that the exhibit was badly
handled by the police inspector and np reliance whatsoever could be placed o them because the
inspector calling the witness ojul to identify the exhibits the inspector instead sent the exhibits to
ojul`s house by the one William Okello who was not a police man and did not give evidence for
ojul to identify which broke the chain of handling the exhibits. Therefore in conclusion of this
issue the police is advised to handle the exhibits with care and untampered with and those should
handed to the exhibit store keeper, marked, sealed in the police seal and packed, exhibit slip
filled and all the records should be locked in the exhibit store by the exhibit store keeper.
Therefore the exhibits should remain in the state upon which they were found.

Issue 4: What are the key contents of an exhibit slip with reference to an exhibit in this case.
An exhibit slip is a formal document containing particulars of the exhibit.

Police station
Ref:
Date:
Name of accused
Name of deceased
Exhibit
Description.
Examination required.
Lab number and the seal.
You have to show that the exhibit listed above was received from the …investigations officer
his rank and the name.
Date upon which they were received in sealed packages intact and identical to specimen.
Name of the store keeper and he or she must sign on the exhibit slip.
Date of commission of the offence, time, place, weather condition if relevant.
Also, the nature of crime has to be noted.
And any other information required.

A sample of exhibit slip.

UGANDA POLICE POLICE FORM 17A

Police station: …MBARARA CPS…………………..

Ref: ……………1456……………………………

Date: …………08/08/2022……………………….

NAME OF ACCUSSED: ……MUKUMBOZI…………………

NAME OF DECEASED: ……MZEE KAKAMA…………………

EXHIBIT DESCRIPTION EXAMINATION

REQUIRED

1. GUN RAPID FIRE GUN

 LAB NO……………………
08……………………………………………………………. SEAL

The exhibit listed above was received from the …investigations

officer…………………………………………….

RANK………SSP ……………………….. NAME ………ARNOLD OINE

……………………………..

DATE ………08/08/2022…………………………. They were received in sealed packages

intact and identical to specimen attached.

…….……BAMANYI
WARRENS………………

EXHIBIT STORE
KEEPER

DATE OF OFFENCE TIME PLACE WEATHER CONDITION

RELEVANT

12/07/2022………… 11:06 pm……KAKIIKA…… ………MOON

LIGHT………

NATURE OF CRIME
The above suspect arrived home after having left home for a while and joined UPDF and it
is believed that he owns a gun whose code and number matches with the one recovered at
the scene of crime.

The exhibit …………………………(gun)……………………………………… was handed

over to me by the Government Chemist in a sealed bag at ……………
10:00am……………………(hrs.) ………. on………05/8/2022………. (date).

Note: The specimen sent for examination should be packed separately and labelled
according to the printed instruction on police from 1/3.

Issue 5: How can the chain of evidence be properly managed?

Chain of evidence refers to the process or procedure of handling evidence from the scene of the
crime up to the time it is brought to court and in connection of the facts the evidence has to be
done in the following. After there has been a commission of an offence the investigating officer
will carry out a condonation and will carry out a search at the crime scene and after which the
evidence collected will be recorded at the police. And after which they shall be kept in the
exhibit store.
The general rule is that the chain of evidence is broken when no proper handling of the evidence
is done.
Justice Stephen Mubiru in the case of UGANDA V ERIKU JIMMY (CRIMINAL SESSIONS
CASE No. 0065 OF 2014) [2017] UGHCCRD 2, stated that it is always good practice to have
the chain of custody of evidence clearly established in order to rule out any possibility of
alteration so as to affect the proper identification and the quality of the exhibits
In the case of Uganda v Albino Ojok (1974) HCB 176 it was held that the exhibit was badly
handled by the police inspector and no reliance whatsoever could be placed on them because the
inspector calling the witness ojul to identify the exhibits the inspector instead sent the exhibits to
ojul`s house by the one William Okello who was not a police man and did not give evidence for
ojul to identify which broke the chain of handling the exhibits.

Issue 6: How many witnesses should talk about the exhibits for corroboration purposes?
Section 117 of the evidence act provides that all persons shall be competent testify unless the
court considers that they are prevented from understanding the questions put them, or from
giving rational answers to those questions, by tender years, extreme old age.
Section 133 of the evidence act provides that subject to the provisions of any other law in force
no particular number of witnesses shall in any case be required for the proof of any fact.
First witness is the shamba junior kabuzi can be the witness since he saw and heard.
Secondly Mukombozi`s girlfriend can also be the witness since she was tied up the assailants
who killed Mzee Mukombozi.
Therefore Exhibit store keeper who kept the exhibits or the officer in charge should talk about
the exhibit because he is the one in custody of the keys for exhibit store and exhibit slip.
More so the investigating officer who cordoned the crime scene and recovered those exhibits
during investigations and is the one to testify about the condition in which the exhibits were in.
In addition to the above also the Shamba boy upon realizing that he can testify and since he was
the one who first saw the assailants having those exhibits is one of the witnesses to talk about the
exhibits.

Issue 7: Who is the last appropriate person to tender evidence of the gun exhibit in court?

The exhibit of a gun recovered from the crime scene since it was kept the last person to tender
such exhibit is the exhibit store keeper can be tendered in court by on the exhibits recovered can
be conclusive evidence to link them to the scene of crime and thereby make them liable for the
murder of Mzee Kakama.

In conclusion of the above issue, therefore since the there was a gun exhibit and after which
was stored and recorded by the exhibit store keeper and believing that they were not tampered
with, the exhibit store keeper is the only appropriate person to tender such exhibit in court.