The Appellant was charged with manslaughter contrary to
section 195 of the Penal Code [Cap 16 R.E. 2002]. When the charge was read over
to him, he pleaded guilty. The prosecution counsel then read brief facts of the
case to which the Appellant accepted to be correct but stated that he was
drunk. The trial judge convicted the Appellant on his own plea of guilty. In
sentencing the Appellant, the judge considered the provisions of the Sexual
Offences Special Provisions Act, 1998 because, as he noted, the death was
caused by rape. On this basis, he sentenced the Appellant to imprisonment for
30 years and twelve strokes of corporal punishment. The Appellant appealed to
the Court of Appeal. It was argued on behalf of the Appellant that the trial
court misdirected itself when it entered the plea of guilty as the Appellant
had raised the defence of intoxication. The counsel for the Respondent did not
support the conviction and submitted that the Appellant’s plea was equivocal
and that the post-mortem report was not helpful. It failed to substantiate how
the death was caused by rape as rape does not necessarily result in death.