Deputy Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo has expressed concern over prevalent cases of murder, defilement and rape.
Justice Dollo says that the case, often against minors, constitute a bigger percentage of criminal cases handled by courts of law across the country, yet studies have established that the biggest percentage of cases remain unreported.
He called upon religious, cultural and political leaders across the country to join hands in preventing such occurrences and to collectively refocus their energies to redefine the moral values of communities.
He was speaking at the opening a month-long Court of Appeal regional session at the Masaka High Court premises today.
A team of three Justices; Steven Musota, Hellen Obura and Fredrick Egonda Ntende have been tasked to conduct a one-month Court of Appeal session in Masaka region to clear the backlog in the circuit. The session will handle 52 appeal cases, among them, 20 defilement cases, 17 murders, six rape, four robberies and five civil matters from the Masaka sub-region.
Justice Dollo observed that the judiciary intends to use these outreach sessions in different regions of the country to give an opportunity to communities to have a feel of the Court of Appeal proceedings, and in the other way help in expediting the trial process.
David Ateenyi Ndamuraani, the Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecution at the Appeals Division says that all the files have been lying unattended to in Kampala, saying that trying them locally will best serve their interest of clearing the backlog.
But Vincent Mugabirwe, the Masaka Regional Prisons commander challenged the Judiciary to increase the number of High Court sessions in the area to offload the prison cells which are currently congested heavily.
According to him, the region has a total of 3,113 inmates, among them 1,537 convicts and 486 committed for trial. Another 1,578 are on remand. Mugabirwe says that many of the inmates have overstayed on remand which pauses serious administrative challenges.