The Court of Appeal has increased the prison sentence for a man convicted of sodomy from 32 to 33 years. This decision was made by Justices Hellen Obura, Christopher Gashirabake, and Eva Luswata, who dismissed an appeal by Yakobo Byakaye, 53, against his original sentence from the Masaka High Court.
Byakaye was initially sentenced in 2016 by former Masaka High Court Judge Flavian Zeija for sodomizing a 9-year-old boy at the Masaka city golf course. Judge Zeija deemed the act “beastly” and warranted a severe sentence to deter future offenders.
Byakaye, represented by state-appointed lawyer Joshua Naluswa, appealed the sentence, arguing it was excessively harsh and failed to account for his two years spent on remand. He requested a more lenient penalty, citing his age and time served.
However, the Court of Appeal, during a special criminal session in Masaka, not only dismissed the appeal but added an extra year to the sentence. In a judgment read by Justice Gashirabake, the court emphasized the gravity of Byakaye’s offense, which caused permanent injuries to the victim. The court found the initial 32-year sentence too lenient, comparing it to typical defilement cases. The increased sentence was deemed necessary to protect the victim from further harm and to reflect the severity of the crime.
In a separate case, the Court of Appeal also upheld a life imprisonment sentence for Patrick Kaggwa, 54, from Rakai district. Kaggwa was convicted of defiling his 12-year-old twin daughter and had appealed his 2011 sentence from the Masaka High Court.
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