1. JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION
INVESTIGATIONS AND THE TRIAL PROCESS IN UGANDA
PAPER PRESENTED TO THE KISORO INMATES
BY AKATUKUNDA JOEL KAKURU1
STATE ATTORNEY- KISORO
A criminal trial cannot be successful unless there is a successful investigation. In Uganda,
investigations are carried out by the police. Article 120(3) of the Constitution of Uganda
gives power to the DPP to direct the police to investigate any information of a criminal nature
and report to the DPP expeditiously.
To investigate means to look into or conduct an inquiry or to inquire into a matter systematically
in order to make a suspect the subject of a criminal inquiry or trial. 2 When an offence has been
committed, the police has the mandate to carry out investigations with the aim of obtaining the
necessary evidences that can be used in court to warrant a conviction. Poor investigation yields
to an acquittal of an accused person.
As such, when a crime has been committed, the police must have these two set of facts in mind
to guide its investigations.
a. That a crime punishable by law was committed
b. That the person who committed the crime is the accused person and has been placed at the
scene of the crime.
Without placing the accused at the scene of the crime, the prosecution will fail in its mandate to
secure a conviction. In order to place the accused at the scene of the crime, investigations must
be carried out in order to collect evidence that supports the charge and confirms that the
accused was involved in committing the crime at the time and place in the charge.
Methods police uses in investigating crimes
Different crimes call for different methods of investigation. However, there are general
principles that an investigator can follow to investigate a crime.
1. Interviewing witnesses
An investigator must interview an eye witness who saw the accused committing the offence.
Such a witness should make a statement to be put in the diary of investigations on the police file,
1 Akatukunda Joel Kakuru, LLB Hons (UCU), Dip LP (LDC), Advocate of the High Court of Uganda
and all courts subordinate there to, State Attorney for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions- Kisoro
2 See Bryan A Garner, Blacks Law Dictionary, 8th Edition at page 844.

2. i.e. PF2a or PF2b. A police investigator can also interview a person who may know about the
commission of the offense. A victim of the offense should also be interviewed. Also, the accused
himself should be interviewed and his statement recorded.
2. Identification Parade
There are instances where an eye witness saw the suspect but does not necessarily know who it
is maybe because the commission of the offence took place at night. In such an instance, an
identification parade comes in handy. The procedure for this was set out in Sentale vs Uganda
[1968] EA 365
3. A Scene of Crime
A scene of crime is any place where the crime took place, whether wholly or partly. When a
crime of a serious magnitude has been committed, the first police officer to reach the scene must
ensure that the scene is cordoned off to ensure that all the evidence on the scene is not tampered
with. Such evidences will be taken as exhibits into safe custody of the police. Taking
photographs and drawing sketch plans.
4. Use of experts
Today, there are offences that are committed that require technical expertise. As such experts
like pathologists, ballistic experts, government analysts, finger print experts, bomb experts,
DNA experts are increasingly being used to investigate serious offences.
5. Searches.
A search by an investigating officer is intended at discovering and seizing any material or thing
which may be used in evidence. This involves searching the scene of crime or any other place
where any material of evidential burden may be suspected to have been hidden by the accused
or suspect. Where a search is carried out by a police officer, the officer must be of the same sex
as the person being searched. The officer must record any recovered object in a search
certificate. This must be included on the diary of investigations in PF2. The recovered items will
be included as exhibits in the Exhibit Book PB and an exhibit slip must be issued and kept in the
case file.
A search can be made with or without a warrant. Where a search is to be made without a
warrant, the LCs must be invited before the premises are searched. When they appear, the
premises must be searched in the presence of the LCs and the suspect. A search certificate must
be made indicating the place, date, time, names of people present during the search, items
recovered during the search and the signatures of the officer conducting the search, the LCs
witnessing the search, and the Suspect. The suspect must retain a copy of the search certificate.
6. Exhibits
An Exhibit is an object or statement produced before a court of law and referred to while giving
evidence. Exhibits are so handy in that they prove the case in court. An exhibit must be properly
marked and labelled by the investigating officer showing the case file number. Exhibits which

3. are likely to decay should be sent to the government chemist as soon as possible. Where exhibits
need forensic examination, both the exhibit and the specimen sample should be labelled and
sent to the expert by the Investigating officer. The chain of handling exhibits must not be
broken.
7. Sketch plan
The Scene of crime officer should normally graphically or visually represent the scene of crime
through a sketch plan. This helps the court and other law officers to visualize what took place at
the scene of crime, without the court visiting this scene.
THE CRIMINAL TRIAL PROCESS IN UGANDA
During the investigation stage, the police officer must get in touch with the Directorate of Public
Prosecutions so as to expedite the criminal justice system. Arrests can be made against the
accused person at any time during the investigation stage. However, Section 25(1) of the
Police Act states that an arrested person must not spend more than 48 hours in police cells. He
or she must be arraigned in a magistrate’s court for plea taking or released on police bond.
When a person has been brought before a magistrate before investigations are complete, a
holding charge can be made against him or her, only for the purpose of remanding him pending
the completion of investigations.
When a suspect has been arrested and is in police custody, he or she has the following rights:
i. A right to inform the next of kin of the arrest
ii. A right to be released on bond (though this is not automatic)
iii. A right to be informed of the charge in a language he/she understands.
iv. A right to be informed of the choice of a lawyer
v. A right to medical treatment
vi. A right to be produced in court within 48 hours after the arrest
When investigations are complete, then, the hearing will start. During the hearing, the accused
person will be entitled to the following rights:
i. A right to a fair, speedy and impartial hearing [Art 28(1)]
ii. A right to have a trial within a reasonable time. [Art 126(2)(b) Justice shall not be
delayed
iii. Presumption of innocence [Art 28(3)(a)]
iv. A right to be informed of the nature of the charge [Art 28(3)(b)]
v. An entitlement to bail
vi. A right to adequate facilities for preparation of defense [Art 28(3)(c)]
vii. A right to legal representation (i.e. for capital offences) [Art 28(3)(d)]
viii. A right to be present during trial and a right to have an interpreter (If the accused does
not understand the language of court) [Art 28(5)]
ix. A right to cross examine prosecution witnesses and a right to call and examine his or her
own witnesses [Art 28(3)(g)]
x. A right to a copy of the proceedings and judgement [Art 28(6)]
xi. A right to a public trial [Art 28(1)]

4. STAGES IN THE TRIAL PROCESS IN A MAGISTRATES COURT [Sec 119-160 MCA]
Stage one: Plea Taking- accused is arraigned in court and informed of the charge against him
and asked to plea. Five pleas are available to him, i.e. Plea of guilt, Plea of not guilty, Plea of
autrefois acquit, plea of autrefois convict or plea of pardon. If one pleads guilty, then, the charge
should be read to him in a language that he understands, essential ingredients of the offence
explained to him, and if he accepts all the essential ingredients, then the state should read out
the brief facts and if the accused accepts them, court should record a conviction and proceed to
hear further facts relating to the sentence. The accused will then be sentenced accordingly.3
Stage Two: Hearing of the prosecution case. This stage comes into play when the accused
has pleaded not guilty. The State attorney will either call or fix the case for hearing. This means
he will call all the material witnesses relating to the case so as to place the accused at the scene
of crime and prove that the accused committed or participated in committing of the offence.
These witnesses will be examined in chief by the state attorney, cross examined by the accused
or his defence counsel and re-examined by the state attorney.
Stage Three: Ruling on a prima facie case.4 When all the prosecution witnesses have
testified, the prosecution will close its case. At this moment, court will make a ruling on a no
case to answer or prima facie case. A prima facie case is one where a reasonable tribunal,
properly directing its mind to the law and the evidence could convict if no explanation is
offered by the defence.5 If no prima facie case is made out, then the court will dismiss the case
and accused will be acquitted.
Stage four: Opening of the defence case and hearing. Where a prima facie case is made
out, then the accused will be put to his defence. He will be informed of his rights, i.e. to either
remain silent, or to give evidence on oath where he will be cross examined by the state attorney,
or to give unsworn evidence. Whatever he chooses, he has a right to call witnesses.
Stage five: Submissions both by the Prosecution and defence. When the accused has
finalized giving his testimony and that of his witnesses, he will close his case. Then the
prosecution and the defence will address court on the evidence and the law in regard to their
respective cases.
Stage six: Judgement. When both sides have finished making their submissions, the
magistrate will give his judgement or reserve it for another date. In the judgement, the
magistrate will either find the accused guilty and convict him, or find him not guilty and acquit
him and release him from custody.
3 See Adan Vs Republic [1973] EA 445 for a detailed procedure of recording a plea of guilty
4 See Bhatt v R 1957 EA 332
5 Ibid

5. Stage Seven: Allocutus, mitigation and Sentence. If the accused has been found guilty,
then the court will invite the state attorney to give a record of the accused to enable it to make
out a proper sentence. This is what is termed as allocutus. The accused will also be given a
chance to mitigate the sentence. After, the magistrate will pass a sentence that he considers
proper in the circumstances.
Stage Eight: Appeals. Court has a duty to inform the party that has lost the case of its right of
appeal. Normally, this right will run within 14 days from the date of passing the sentence. An
accused can appeal against the conviction or sentence or both.
STAGES IN THE TRIAL PROCESS BEFORE THE HIGH COURT [Sec 50-98 TIA]
The trial process in the high court is almost the same as that of the magistrate’s court. However,
it starts with the preliminary proceedings, that is, drawing up an indictment and a summary of
case by the DPP, and signing the same, then presenting the same to the magistrate who reads
them to the accused after giving him a copy of the indictment and summary of a case, and then
commits the accused to the next high court criminal session. The record is transmitted to the
registrar crimes division of the nearest high court who cause lists the case for trial. When this is
done, he gives a notice of trial to the accused person.
The trial commences with the choosing of assessors, who are lay persons selected by the chief
magistrate. After Assessors have been assigned a criminal session, the trial will commence, and
will take the same stages like in the magistrate courts. However, the only difference will come
after the final submissions where the judge will sum up the evidence and the relevant law to the
assessors who are expected to give their opinion. After giving their opinions, the judge will make
his judgement.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS DURING THE TRIAL PROCESS
1. Application for an unconditional release. Sec 25 (3) of the Police Act
A suspect who has spent more than 48 hours in police custody has a right to be released on
police bond. If he or she is not released, then such a person can make an application to the
magistrate’s court for an unconditional release within 24 hours.
2. Bail
Bail was defined in Uganda Vs Lawrence Luzinda [1986] HCB 33 to mean an agreement
between court and an applicant consisting of a bond with or without surety for a reasonable
amount as the circumstances of the case permit. The purpose of bail is to permit the accused
person to leave prison and attend court while coming from his area of residence. Where an
accused does not perform the terms and conditions as set in the bail, his bail will lapse and he or
she will be remanded back to prison. If he jumps bail by refusing to come to court without
excuse, he will be remanded to prison together with his surety.

6. Considerations that court takes into account before releasing an accused person
on bail.
a. Nature of the accusation
b. Gravity of the offence and the severity of the punishment which the conviction may entail
c. Antecedents of the applicant so far as they are known
d. Whether the applicant has a fixed place of abode within the area of court’s jurisdiction
e. Whether the applicant is likely to interfere with the prosecution witnesses.
3. Warrant of arrest and committal upon lapse of Bail Pending appeal.
If the accused person, after conviction and sentence was released on bail pending appeal and he
does not appeal, or he appeals and the appeal is dismissed or he loses it, then the prosecutor can
initiate an application to court to issue a warrant of arrest and committal to a government
prison so that the accused convict can serve his sentence.
4. Habeas Corpus Application
Where the accused is remanded to prison during the trial, he has a right to appear for trial every
time the case is coming up for hearing. Where the prison authorities, subject to a production
warrant issued by court have failed or refused to bring the accused to court, then the prosecutor
or state can commence Habeas Corpus proceedings. Habeas corpus is a writ employed to bring a
person before court most frequently to ensure that the party’s imprisonment or detention is not
illegal.6 Such an application will command the Prison Authorities to “produce the body of the
prisoner, since they are presumed to have the prisoner.” It is therefore an application which if
honored will direct the prisons to bring the detainee before court.
CONCLUSION
Investigations are part and parcel of the criminal justice system. A good investigation of a
criminal offence helps the state in proving the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, and
ensures that the chances of convicting an innocent person are minimized. When an offence has
been well investigated, the trial process becomes easier, as there will not be instances where
justice is delayed, but will be seen to be done.
Thank you.
6 See Bryan A Garner, Blacks Law Dictionary, 8th Edition at page 728.