By BigEye.ug Lawyer
It is now clear that Ivan Kamyuka should appear in court over Manslaughter and not Murder. Should he appear in court over murder, the court will dismiss the case and the Police Attorney will then be required to lodge a new case under the auspices of Manslaughter.
The sentencing guidelines that the Chief Justice issued state the following about Manslaughter (Felony). The penalty for Manslaughter under the law according to the Penal Code Act is Life Imprisonment.
However, it should be noted that the Penal Code only states the maximum penalty that can be given. Rarely does a person get the maximum penalty for manslaughter.
But first, we need to get some definitions right from the dictionary of law.
“Manslaughter is defined as the unlawful killing of another person without premeditation or so-called “malice aforethought” (an evil intent prior to the killing). It is distinguished from murder (which brings greater penalties) by lack of any prior intention to kill anyone or create a deadly situation. There are two levels of manslaughter: voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary manslaughter includes killing in heat of passion or while committing a felony. Involuntary manslaughter occurs when a death is caused by a violation of a non-felony, such as reckless driving (called “vehicular manslaughter”). Examples: Ivan Kamyuka Hothead gets into a drunken argument in a night club with his acquaintance Johnnie Ahimbisibwe Bonehead, and Hothead hits Bonehead over the head with a beer bottle, causing internal bleeding and death. Brent Burgle sneaks into a warehouse intent on theft and is surprised by a security man, whom Burgle knocks down a flight of stairs, killing him. Both are voluntary manslaughter.
However, if either man had used a gun, a murder charge is most likely since he brought a deadly weapon to use in the crime. The immediate rage in finding a loved one in bed with another followed by a killing before the passion cools usually limits the charge to voluntary manslaughter and not murder, but prior attacks could convince a magistrate and a jury that the killing was not totally spontaneous. Lenny Leadfoot drives 70 miles per hour on a twisting mountain road, goes off a cliff and his passenger is killed in the crash. Leadfoot can be charged with involuntary manslaughter.”
So back to the Club Guvnor Murder and why it ceases to be murder and why Ivan will at most earn himself only 3 years in prison.
First and foremost, the CCTV recording shows that Johnnie started the fight by hurling a glass at the couple which hit Nina on the head before falling down and shattering into pieces. This is already a mitigating factor in the case and Ivan Kamyuka can easily plead that he was now fighting off in self-defense against an attacker whose intentions he didn’t know. He could even easily prove that his attacker had tried to murder him at that point by aiming a glass towards his head.
In the Sentencing Guidelines that will be followed in this case, the Judge will consider the Aggravating factors and the Mitigating factors.
The Aggravating Factors will include; degree of injury to victim, part of victim’s body harmed, degree of offender’s intention or negligence, use and nature of weapon, or other factors the court deems relevant.
The mitigating factors will include; lack of intention to cause death or culpable negligence, subordinate role of offender as member of group or gang in commission of offense, element of self-defense, or other factors the court deems relevant.
Again, even the case of manslaughter is a weak one and will require that Johnnie Ahimbisibwe’s side has strong proof as to the earlier intentions of the late in hurling a glass towards the couple. The manslaughter case would have stood a chance had Ivan Kamyuka after using a glass fragment to punch at Johnnie’s neck, gone ahead to inflict more body injuries. The video shows he only took that one swipe at the neck that later ended Johnnie’s life. It could also then be argued that having been under the influence of alcohol, the punch itself didn’t play a large role in causing Johnnie’s death, but rather helped to cause what was soon bound to happen.
This is going to be one of the trickiest cases in the history of Uganda and there’s a likelihood that Johnnie’s side won’t be contented with the final judgment. The case would have gone in their favour had the CCTV recording said otherwise, but now, the tables seem to have been turned.
There are two options, Ivan Kamyuka if he has a strong defense team, great lawyers, he could easily walk out of court a free man, however if he has a weak team, the maximum he will spend in prison is three years. Surely, the law has never been trickier.