Court of Appeal quashes Shs 200m compensation award to convicted defiler

What the report says

The Uganda Court of Appeal has set aside a High Court order that had directed the government to pay Shs 200 million to Henry Muloki, a convicted defiler who said he was tortured while detained at Kitalya Prison. The ruling was delivered in Kampala on Wednesday by a three-judge panel led by Deputy Chief Justice Moses Kazibwe-Kawumi, with Justices Oscar John Kihika and Stella Alibateese.

According to The Observer, the appeal succeeded on behalf of the state, and the judges left in place Muloki’s sentence but overturned the compensation and related directions. The High Court had previously accepted Muloki’s claim that a prison warder assaulted him, then ordered his release after treating time already spent on remand as equivalent to the sentence imposed, while also awarding damages and medical and legal-related relief.

The appellate court said the compensation award was made without proper legal process. It held that the government was not given a chance to respond to the torture claim, the alleged warder was not brought before court, and the Attorney General was not made a party to the proceedings. The judges also said the criminal case was meant to determine guilt and sentence, not to decide a separate civil claim for damages.

More broadly, the decision highlights the limits of using criminal proceedings to secure compensation for alleged abuse in detention. The court indicated that such claims should be pursued through the proper civil or constitutional channels, where the responsible party and state can be formally heard.