- He was convicted in 2020 0f aggravated Defilement of a 7-year-old girl.
- He appealed both the conviction and sentence.
- The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but ruled that the sentence was harsh.
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the 28 years sentence that was handed to a then 22-year-old man for defiling his boss's 7-year-old daughter was harsh and manifestly excessive.
Three justices of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Fredrick Egonda Ntende, Catherine Bamugemereire, and Christopher Madrama have now reduced his sentence to just 15 years, after maintaining his conviction of aggravated Defilement.
While reducing the said sentence, the learned trial justices of the Appellant Court faulted lower court trial judge and now DPP, Jane Frances Abodo for giving the convict a sentence that was much higher than the range of sentences imposed in such cases.
Magino Joseph was on the 22nd of January 2020 convicted of aggravated Defilement by then High Court Judge Jane Frances Abodo and sentenced to 28 years for defiling his boss's seven-year-old girl.
The facts as accepted by the lower court were that on the 29th of August 2017, at Kasambya zone, Wakiso district while (the 7-year-old victim) was washing the plates in the kitchen, the appellant called her out.
He then took her behind the kitchen, removed her clothes, and penetrated her vagina with his penis.
The neighbors were not around that day.
She told her father later in the evening that the appellant had performed a sexual act on her.
Previously, the appellant did odd jobs for the family and hence was known to the victim and her family.
He was arrested, and the victim was taken for medical examination.
The appellant was subsequently convicted for the offense of aggravated defilement and subsequently sentenced to 28 years, 7 months, and 16 days imprisonment.
Dissatisfied, the appellant appealed against both the conviction and sentence on grounds that the trial judge erred in law and fact when she convicted him based on unsatisfactory evidence of the victim and inconclusive medical evidence.
He further accused now DPP Abodo of denying him an opportunity to re-call prosecution witnesses for cross-examination hence infringing on his rights to a fair hearing on top of the learned trial Judge giving him a harsh and manifestly excessive sentence.