The Head of the Criminal Division of the High Court, Justice Wilson Kwesiga commenced a special session targeting over 90 capital offenses against juvenile offenders within Central and parts of Eastern Uganda.
At least 28 of the 90 cases will be handled at Naguru, the rest will be selected from Mpigi, Mukono, and Jinja with all the matters expected to be handled to conclusion within a month.
Justice Kwesiga who will be the presiding judge in these sessions says that the initiative of taking the court to the remand home is a response mechanism that will see justice administered while adhering to the government’s COVID SOPs.
“So we decided that to lessen the risks of getting these children being exposed to COVID outside, we the judges and judicial officers come to where they are, we hear their programs, we hear their conditions,” he said.
He added that the law is in favour of such practices since it provides that trails of a juvenile must be as informal as possible and the whole process takes a reformatory approach rather than a punitive one.
In this spirit he appealed to the government through the Justice, Law and Order Sector and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) to identify technical colleges where these juveniles can be admitted for further mentoring.
Aside from the Court session, JLOS and the Ministry’s officials trained parents and local council leaders on legal processes of juvenile trials and the citizenry role.
The Principal Probationary Officer at the Ministry of Gender, Ogwang Jane Stella, urged participants to help reintegrate the children back to society. “Show them love, forgive them, they have no other parents but you and they need you,” she said.
According to the Naguru Remand Home In-charge of probation and welfare officer, Kyomugisha Mary, the total number of juveniles remanded at Naguru is 138 out of which 92 are accused of capital offences especially defilement, aggravated robbery and a few murder cases, 42 for minor offences and 4 pending settlement.
This program is part of the general project funded by JLOS intended to have criminal sessions conducted in all remand homes across the nation.
Similar Sessions will later be conducted in Fort portal, Kabale, Arua, Gulu and Kabale.
