A man who was previously sentenced to 22 years imprisonment after being convicted of raping a woman who had rejected his love advances will now spend 16 years in prison after the Court of Appeal reduced his sentence.
Joseph Kimbowa was in 2019 convicted of rape contrary to Section 123 and 124 of the Penal Code Act after having a forceful sexual intercourse with a 20 year old woman whom had previously rejected his love advances.
In an incident that happened in 2017, Kimbowa asked the victim to sell him some cabbages and as she handed them to him, he held her by the mouth then pulled her into a nearly bush, removed her knickers and raped her.
The victim raised an alarm which alerted her father Sentamu Joseph who arrived at the scene and found Kimbowa still on top of her, raising an alarm and with the help of other people, he was arrested.
The High Court in Mpigi would later find Kimbowa guilty of rape and consequently sentenced him to 22 years imprisonment.
Unsatisfied with the sentence, Kimbowa appealed.
However, a panel of three justices of the Court of Appeal including Cheboion Barishaki, Hellen Obura, and Eva K. Lustwata said that the trial judge had forgotten to consider the period Kimbowa had spent on remand while sentencing him.
“For that reason, the sentence of 22 years’ imprisonment was illegal and we hereby set it aside. Having done so, we proceed to invoke the provisions of Section 11 of the Judicature Act, which grants this court the same powers as the trial Court to impose an appropriate sentence on the appellant,” the trio said.
“Taking into account both the aggravating and mitigating factors, as well as the principle of consistency, we consider a sentence of l8 years’ imprisonment appropriate in the circumstances.”
After deducting the one year, 10 months and three days he had spent on remand, the justices of the Court of Appeal consequently sentenced him to 16 years imprisonment.
