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Case Law[2025] UGSC 16Uganda

Odeke & 2 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeal 63 of 2019) [2025] UGSC 16 (11 April 2025)

Supreme Court of Uganda

Judgment

# Odeke & 2 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeal 63 of 2019) [2025] UGSC 16 (11 April 2025) [ Share this document on WhatsApp opens in new tab __](https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=Odeke+%26+2+Others+v+Uganda+%28Criminal+Appeal+63+of+2019%29+%5B2025%5D+UGSC+16+%2811+April+2025%29+-+https%3A%2F%2Fulii.org%2Fen%2Fakn%2Fug%2Fjudgment%2Fugsc%2F2025%2F16%2Feng%402025-04-11) [ Share this document on X opens in new tab __](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Odeke+%26+2+Others+v+Uganda+%28Criminal+Appeal+63+of+2019%29+%5B2025%5D+UGSC+16+%2811+April+2025%29+-+https%3A%2F%2Fulii.org%2Fen%2Fakn%2Fug%2Fjudgment%2Fugsc%2F2025%2F16%2Feng%402025-04-11) [ Share this document on Facebook opens in new tab __](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://ulii.org/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugsc/2025/16/eng@2025-04-11) [ Share this document on LinkedIn opens in new tab __](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://ulii.org/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugsc/2025/16/eng@2025-04-11) [ Share this document by email __](mailto:?subject=Take%20a%20look%20at%20this%20document%20from%20ULII:%20Odeke%20&%202%20Others%20v%20Uganda%20\(Criminal%20%E2%80%A6&body=https://ulii.org/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugsc/2025/16/eng@2025-04-11) __Save [ Download PDF (2.4 MB) ](/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugsc/2025/16/eng@2025-04-11/source) Report a problem ##### Is there something wrong with this document? Problem category *Incorrect informationMissing informationNo PDF downloadDocument is emptyDocument is not accessible on my deviceOther What's the problem? * Your email address * CancelReport problem __ * Share * [ Download PDF (2.4 MB) ](/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugsc/2025/16/eng@2025-04-11/source) * * * * * Report a problem __ ##### Odeke & 2 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeal 63 of 2019) [2025] UGSC 16 (11 April 2025) Copy citation __Save * __Document detail * __Related documents 1 * __Citations \- / 1 Citation Odeke & 2 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeal 63 of 2019) [2025] UGSC 16 (11 April 2025) Copy Media Neutral Citation [2025] UGSC 16 Copy Court [Supreme Court of Uganda](/en/judgments/UGSC/) Case number Criminal Appeal 63 of 2019 Judges [Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, JSC](/en/judgments/all/?judges=Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza%2C%20JSC), [Elizabeth Musoke, JSC](/en/judgments/all/?judges=Elizabeth%20Musoke%2C%20JSC), [Christopher Madrama Izama, JSC](/en/judgments/all/?judges=Christopher%20Madrama%20Izama%2C%20JSC), [Catherine Bamugemereire, JSC](/en/judgments/all/?judges=Catherine%20Bamugemereire%2C%20JSC), [Monica K. Mugenyi, JSC](/en/judgments/all/?judges=Monica%20K.%20Mugenyi%2C%20JSC) Judgment date 11 April 2025 Language English ##### __Related documents * Upholds [Odeke & 2 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeals 284, 287, & 429 of 2014) [2019] UGCA 2097 (8 November 2019)](/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugca/2019/2097) Summary ###### Flynote * Criminal law—murder—second appeal—appeal on severity of sentence—no appeal on questions of fact—jurisdiction of Supreme Court—section 5(3) Judicature Act—dismissed Read full summary ###### Case summary The appellants, Odeke Peter, Etudi Michael, and Obwana Godfrey, were convicted of murder under sections 188 and 189 of the Penal Code Act and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment each by the High Court at Jinja. Their first appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed, with the Court upholding both conviction and sentence. Dissatisfied, they appealed to the Supreme Court on the sole ground that the sentence was illegal, harsh, excessive, and inconsistent with previous sentencing precedents. The Supreme Court (Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, Musoke, Madrama, Bamugemereire, and Mugenyi, JJSC) reaffirmed that under section 5(3) of the Judicature Act, an appellant cannot challenge the severity of a sentence before the Supreme Court except on a question of law. The Court found that the appeal was improperly disguised as raising a point of law while, in reality, it merely contested the harshness of the sentence. It emphasized that severity of sentence alone is not a ground of appeal to the Supreme Court, citing precedents such as _Karisa Moses v Uganda_  and _Nzabaikukize Jamada v Uganda_. As no legal error or question of law of public importance was demonstrated, the Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the 25-year sentences imposed by the trial court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal. ###### Order __ ##### Ask AI Ask questions and understand this document faster using AI. __Ask AI * * * Skip to document content **Loading PDF...** 100% This document is 2.4 MB. Do you want to load it? Load document ##### Error loading PDF Try reloading the page or downloading the PDF. Reload page [Download PDF](/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugsc/2025/16/eng@2025-04-11/source.pdf) Error: #### __Related documents #### Upholds 1. [Odeke & 2 Others v Uganda (Criminal Appeals 284, 287, & 429 of 2014) [2019] UGCA 2097 (8 November 2019)](/en/akn/ug/judgment/ugca/2019/2097) #### More documents like this one __Suggestions generated by AI. This feature is not currently available. ▲ To the top >

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