The Principal Judge, Dr Flavian Zeija, has while sitting at Mbarara High Court, convicted Twesigye Godfrey for defiling his nine-year-old daughter.
Twesigye has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Prosecution proved that Twesigye committed the offence in 2013.
The case was handled by the Principal Judge when he was still a trial Judge at the Court and it was in advance stages.
In his ruling, Dr Flavian Zeija took in account the seven years that the convict had spent on remand.
He said the sentence was not only punitive but also a retribution given the offence’s long-term traumatic effects and stigma inflicted on the victim.
“This might even affect her marriage in case she gets in an argument with the husband. He might use it against her saying no wonder you were even defiled by own father,” he lamented.
He equally passed on three completed civil matters for the deputy registrar to deliver judgments.
From the court sitting, Dr Flavian Zeija was then taken on a guided tour of both the High Court and Chief Magistrates Court.
Judges; Tadeo Asiimwe, Joyce Kavuma, Chief Magistrate Samuel Twakyire, and Magistrates Grade One; Muhimbise Gordon, Ayebare Daphine, Mujuni Paul and Ainembabazi Doreen took part in the exercise.
Justice Asiimwe decried the understaffing at the court while HW Twakyire, who also care takes the High Court Registry, briefed Dr Flavian Zeija on the other challenges affecting efficiency in the delivery of justice at the circuit.
These included lack of a remand home, lack of sufficient space for court halls, archives, offices, non-operational ICT equipment and the incomplete wall fence.
The Chief Magistrate also said the Chief Magistrate’s court has a total workload of 3,112 cases out of which 572 are backlog.
From Mbarara, Dr Flavian Zeija proceeded to Ntungamo where he was received by Chief Magistrate Sarah Mponye Kolya and Magistrates Grade One; Namayanja Nazifah and Akera Derrick Otim.
The two toured Ruhama and Rwashamaire courts respectively.
In both Ruhama and Rwashamaire, Dr Flavian Zeija found a team of security officers and town council leaders waiting for him.
The local leaders pledged to provide court hall space for the magistrates to start visiting and holding courts near to the people.
It was reported that majority of backlogged cases in criminal matters is caused by either non committals or lack of state attorneys to prosecute cases in the two areas.
He promised to engage the Director of Public Prosecutions to come up with solutions to the impasse.
“We shouldn’t have criminal cases as backlog. Liaise with the State Attorneys to deal with pending committals or weed them out,” he said.
He added that he is soon concluding his inspections in Jinja, Arua, Mbale and Masindi High Court circuits.
He said after this exercise, he will then embark on the planning phase, putting into consideration the observations from the inspections.
He however urged the judicial officers to continue engaging stakeholders on locally solvable problems such as availing land for construction of courts.
