Maid set for retrial as court trashes earlier confession

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Higher power. DPP says City Hall Court where Ms Jolly Tumuhiirwe had pleaded guilty to the offence of torture did not have powers to try such a case

KAMPALA

The housemaid who pleaded guilty to brutalising a two-year-old baby will be tried afresh after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) conceded yesterday the accused had been tried in a wrong court.
The DPP, Mr Mike Chibita, said the City Hall Court where Ms Jolly Tumuhirwe had pleaded guilty to the offence of torture on Monday did not have powers to try such a case and admitted that all the proceedings about the trial in that court were null and void.
This means that Ms Tumuhiirwe will be asked to plead to the charges afresh at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court where the case was transferred for the retrial.
“The matter is set to start afresh before another court (Buganda Road Court). In that sense, the earlier plea she entered is null and void….” Mr Chibita, the chief government prosecutor, said in an interview yesterday.
In an earlier E-mail communication, Mr Chibita had explained why his office transferred the maid’s case file from City Hall Court to Buganda Road Court. He reasoned that it was prudent to cause the transfer to avoid being challenged on appeal in future for trying her in a wrong court.
“First of all City Hall Court is a Grade One Magistrate’s Court. It is supervised by Buganda Road which is a Chief Magistrate’s Court. It was discovered that the Magistrate Grade One did not have jurisdiction to handle the offence that the accused person (maid) was being charged with…” Mr Chibita said in an E-mail communication.
The DPP’s admission is in harmony with the accused’s lawyer Mr Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, who said on Wednesday the maid had been charged in a wrong court and that her plea of guilt in the same court was also a nullity.
On Wednesday City Hall Court was set to hear the prosecution’s submission on how Ms Tumuhiirwe had tortured the baby in the city suburb of Nalya and be able to pass an appropriate sentence. But instead the State prosecutor, Ms Miriam Njukyi, informed the trial magistrate Moses Nabende that the case file had been transferred to Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court.
Ms Njukyi did not explain to court why the file had been transferred because the trial court did not have the competent jurisdiction to hear the case.
She is expected to plead afresh to the torture charges.

Plea of guilt
On Monday, the 22-year-old house-help, pleaded guilty to torturing the baby of her boss and asked for forgiveness from court, the baby’s parents and everyone who was affected by her actions. She is currently on remand at Luzira prison. She will be produced before Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court today for a fresh trial.