Chief Inspector of Courts Tips Mbale Court Staff on Children Files
The Inspectorate team led by the Chief Inspector, Hon. Justice Nshimye(5th from the right on the front row) at Mbale High Court
The Inspector of Courts Hon.\r\nJustice Augustine Nshimye who is on a three day Eastern and Northern regional\r\ntour of courts has given tips to Mbale court staff on how to effectively\r\nregister the case files regarding children. Hon. Justice Nshimye who is also a Justice of the Supreme Court explained that\r\nfor easy identification of children’s files that are mixed up with files for\r\nadults, there is need to highlight.
\r\nThe Chief Inspector of Courts gave the advice to the support staff like clerks\r\nas he inspected the criminal registry of Mbale High Court on September 26, 2016. But prior to giving his advice to the clerks, Hon. Justice Nshimye asked the in\r\ncharge of criminal registry Mr Denis Obonyo Xavier on how they register\r\nchildren’s files. In response Mr Obonyo explained that they have a separate book for children\r\ncases and that incase a child is jointly charged with an adult, then he enters\r\nthe file name in the adult’s book. He further explained that he highlights files regarding children cases that are\r\nregistered in the adult’s book but table turned against him when Hon. Justice\r\nNshimye asked him to show him a sample of highlighted cases to for children and\r\nhe could not easily point at one. It’s from this backdrop that Hon. Justice Nshimye advised the Mbale team to\r\nalways high light children’s cases that are registered together in the adults’\r\nbooks for easy identification. "So if you see a highlighted case in the adults’ register, you would be able to\r\nknow and identify that case as being a child related case.” Hon. Justice\r\nNshimye advised. In response Mr Obonyo said: "you are right my lord. But my lord, we request\r\nthat you avail us with highlighters that we shall be using in highlighting the\r\nchildren’s cases.” Mr. Obonyo’s request however, shocked the Hon. Justice wondering how a who court does not have high\r\nlighters before summoning the cashier to find money and buy the support staff\r\nhighlighters.
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During the same inspection, Ms. Irene Oluka, an official from UNICEF, revealed\r\nthat her organization is supporting the government to register all children\r\nbelow the age of five years so as to deal away with challenges of controversy\r\nthat comes about the age of children facing the law. Ms Oluka explained that in children justice, age is a very important factor and\r\ndeterminant in successfully prosecuting the cases. She added that some parents lower the ages of their children so that the\r\nperpetrators can be charged with defilement while others increase the ages as\r\nto escape the law. Deputy RDC of Mbale, Ms Pamela Watuwa during the same court inspection, decried\r\nof parents who get money from men who have defiled their daughters in exchange\r\nof frustrating justice. Ms Watuwa also revealed that defilement cases are the most registered cases in\r\nMbale, a trend she said is worrying. The inspector of courts on September 27,\r\n2017 inspected Moroto court before proceedings to Gulu.
Posted 27th, September 2016
