Court of Appeal Criminal Session Opens in Fort Portal
The Hon. Justices of Court of Appeal presiding over the opening of Court of Appeal session in Fort Portal
FORT PORTAL: The Court of Appeal kicked off a session at Fort Portal High Court to handle 40 criminal appeals.
The two week-long session is one of the court's efforts to clear the case backlog.
A panel of three Justices; Hon. Justice Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, Hon. Lady Justice Hellen Obura and Hon. Justice Christopher Madrama, will preside over the Session.
While addressing stakeholders at Fort Portal High Court, Hon. Justice Egonda-Ntende, said the Court of Appeal has embarked on conducting sessions in different parts of the country to fight backlog as well as bringing services closer to the people.
"We have over 2,000 criminal appeals and more than 250 constitutional cases yet we are only 13 Judges."
One of the advocates appealed to the justices to consider the cases of appellants who have waited for their turn to be heard at the court.
Speaker after speaker applauded the decentralized Court of Appeal sessions saying they are timely and cost effective.
Murder tops the number of cases on appeal in this session. The other charges being appealed are defilement, robbery kidnap and rape.
Posted 11th, June 2019
