The Court of Appeal sitting in Kabale has reduced a 30-year sentence that was handed to Geneva Kyarisima for killing a 40-year-old man to 25 years and six months but upheld the sentence of his co-accused, Vian Mbichi, of 30 years. 

Geneva Kyarisima and Vian Mbichi were found guilty on June 26, 2014. He was found guilty by the then Kabale High Court judge, Michael Elubu, and jailed for 30 years for the gruesome murder of Geneva Kyarisima’s brother in Kisoro District in 2013.

The court of appeal’s bench of Lady Justices Irene Mulyagonja, Eva Luswata, and Christopher Gashirabake was told by the duo lawyer Alice Namara that the 30-year sentence that was given to her clients Geneva Kyarisima and Vian Mbichi was excessive and harsh.
 

She also told the court that the trial judge, while sentencing, didn’t take into consideration that one of the appellants, Geneva Kyarisima, was a first-time offender of a youthful age who could be useful as a young man, and pleaded for leniency. 

Justice Christopher Gashirabake then showed a graphic photograph that showed how the deceased was brutally murdered. It was after this that Geneva Kyarisima, through his lawyer, drew his appeal. 

Lady Justices Irene Mulyagonja, Eva Luswata, and Justice Christopher Gashirabake In their unanimous decision, they set aside and ruled that pursuant to Section 11 of the Judicature Act, we proceeded to exercise the power of the trial court to resentencing the applicant by imposing a sentence. We think the applicant was sentenced to 26 years, but when we deducted six months, he was on remand. He is to serve 25 years and six months, while his co-accused, Vian Mbichi, will serve 30 years.