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Rwanda decisions
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The Court of Appeal dismissed a criminal appeal, upholding a 25-year sentence for attempted murder and rejecting a claimed exculpatory written statement.
The Court of Appeal dismissed a criminal appeal against a defilement conviction, holding that the evidence was sufficient and credible despite the DNA report.
The application for revision is inadmissible because the cited precedent on sentence reduction is not new evidence as defined by law; it does not relate to facts of the crime or establish innocence, but is a legal argument that should have been raised on appeal. The requirements of Article 197(5) are not met.
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The Court of Appeal held that the evidence was sufficient to uphold convictions for defilement of a minor and dismissed the appellants’ challenge.
The Court of Appeal upheld a 20-year sentence for child sexual assault, finding the medical report, witness evidence, and the accused’s initial confession corroborated each other.
The appellate court found that the lower court erred by failing to properly assess evidence of provocation and exculpatory witness statements. It held that the defendant acted under provocation, which legally reduces the sentence for murder from 25 years to 5 years imprisonment under the relevant statute.
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The Court of Appeal upheld Turikumwe Gilbert’s conviction for defiling a 8-year-old child, finding the evidence consistent and the minor discrepancies immaterial.
The conviction for defilement was upheld based on the victim's consistent testimony, corroborating witness accounts, and a medical report confirming recent sexual trauma, all of which the accused failed to rebut. However, considering the accused's age and first-offender status, the sentence was reduced to ensure proportional justice.
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The Supreme Court held that hearsay evidence from MUHAWENIMANA Sabine was inadmissible as it was not based on her direct knowledge but on information from the accused. The Court found that NTAGANIRA Samuel provided material assistance by locking the victim and principal offender together, thereby facilitating the commission of the crime. The revision application was dismissed, and the conviction and sentence imposed by the High Court were upheld.
Source excerpt
The Court of Appeal upheld a 25-year sentence for child rape, holding that witness evidence and a medical report, taken together, were sufficient.
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