Law
Court Of Appeal Affirms Conviction And Death Sentence For Human Trafficking And Child Sacrifice
The Court of Appeal of Uganda has today, 30th April 2025, upheld the Aggravated Trafficking in Children(Human Sacrifice) conviction and sentence against Mugerwa Ali.
The facts as ascertained from the record of appeal, Mugerwa Akiram (now deceased), was aged one and a half months, a son to the appellant. On the 9th of December 2011 at 8:00 pm, Akiram’s mother went to bed with Akiram and the appellant, only to wake up deep in the night at about 2:00am to find that her baby Akiram and the appellant were missing. She then attempted to open the door but it was locked from outside, she made an alarm that attracted neighbours who came to her aid by opening the door.
Having informed the neighbours about her predicament, together they embarked on a search for the baby and the appellant.
Akiram’s body was on 10th December 2011 found abandoned in a nearby bush with a cut off right ear and half of the left ear missing. A man hunt for the appellant who had disappeared from the village was then launched in vain.
Years later, on 12th February 2013, the appellant was sighted repairing a motor cycle at Katwe, he was arrested, to wit he confessed to subjecting Akiram to human sacrifice for riches under the instructions of a witch doctor. He also led the police to the home of the witch doctor.
The appellant was accordingly charged with Aggravated Trafficking under the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act. The High Court in compelling circumstantial evidence of human sacrifice, convicted the appellant and sentenced him to death.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal on contesting both the conviction and sentence. The Court of Appeal in a judgment delivered today by a panel of Justices- Deputy Chief Justice, Richard Butera, Justice Eva Luswata, and Justice Oscar Kihika, dismissed his appeal.
The successful subsequent verdict of conviction and sentence on appeal demonstrates the continued diligent prosecutorial work in securing justice for victims of human sacrifice/child sacrifice.
The prosecution even on appeal, highlighted the trauma suffered by the victims, their families and the community arising from such heinous crimes, in lieu of the fact that the deceased’s mother fainted for 30 minutes during trial, the prosecutor and the assessors also broke down.
The appeal was prosecuted by Sherifah Nalwanga, Chief State Attorney, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Her diligent efforts in defending both the conviction and sentence with emphasis on the facts falling within the ambit of the rarest of the rarest, underscore the commitment to bringing an end to impunity against all crimes of human sacrifice/child sacrifice.
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