Agency
The Court of Appeal has opened a three-day session in Gulu City to hear 23 criminal appeals, mostly involving serious offences such as murder and aggravated defilement.
The regional sitting is being presided over by a panel of three justices of the Appeals Court, headed by Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting to officially open the sitting at Gulu High Court on Tuesday, Justice Kiryabwire noted that the sitting is part of efforts by the Judiciary to bring judicial services closer to the people outside Kampala.
Gulu High Court Resident Judge Justice Philip Okello highlighted the success the Gulu High Court Circuit registered over the last three years through various interventions such as mediation, plea bargain and creation of high court circuits of Kitgum and Patongo.
Justice Odoki noted that out of the 3,800 caseloads that were at the Gulu High Court three years ago, the figure now stands at 1,965 as of Sept. 30, adding that 1,000 of those caseloads were handled in Patongo and Kitgum High Court Circuits.
As of September 30, there were a total of 6,866 inmates in custody in the 17 prison units in Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum, Pader, Lamwo and Patongo. Of this, 4,903 are convicts while 1,963 are on remand. This session comes shortly after the Judiciary launched the construction of a permanent Court of Appeal building in Gulu City, a development expected to improve access to justice in Northern Uganda.
