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- Case summary
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Joseph Lugala was charged with the crime of incest by male, under section 158(1) (a) of the Penal Code, Cap 16 R.E. 2002 (now R.E. 2022). The prosecution alleged that Lugala had sexual intercourse with a ten-year-old girl, who was his daughter, making her a minor. The incident allegedly occurred on 14th October, 2016 at Lwanzari Village within the District and Region of Njombe. Lugala denied the allegations, but the trial court found him guilty and sentenced him to thirty years imprisonment.
Lugala appealed the decision, but his initial appeal was struck out due to a defective notice of appeal. He then applied for an extension of time to lodge an appeal, which was granted. However, the appeal was dismissed in its entirety, leading to the current appeal.
The main issue in this appeal was the absence of a notice of appeal, which is required by law under section 361(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act, Cap 20 R.E. 2002 (now R.E. 2022) (the CPA). The appellant admitted that he did not lodge the notice of appeal, but insisted that his appeal had merit. The respondent argued that the absence of a notice of appeal rendered the appeal before the High Court incompetent.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the respondent, citing previous cases such as Binaisa Phares Sumwa and 2 Others v. The Republic, Criminal Appeal No. 61 of 2015 and George Daudi v. The Republic, Criminal Appeal No, 428 of 2018. The court stated that the absence of the notice of appeal in the High Court vitiated the appeal before that Court, and declared it incompetent.
The Court of Appeal invoked the provisions of section 4 (2) of the Appellate jurisdiction Act, Cap 141 R.E. 2019 (the AJA) to nullify the proceedings of the High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 58 of 2018 and set aside the judgment for being a nullity.
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