How Standing Surety For Someone Could Land You In Jail – See Why You Should Before Doing It

In November last year, Mr Michael Kolulye stood surety for his cousin, Mr Yasin Jerwa, a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier, before the Buganda Road Court in Kampala.

Jerwa, who is attached to Makindye Military Barracks, had been arrested for allegedly being in possession of an endangered animal, a pangolin. One of the bail conditions for Mr Kokulye was to sign a non-cash bond form of Shs30m.Little did he know that he would end up serving more than a month in prison after his cousin refused to return to court.

At a recent court session, Mr Kokulye informed Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu that as a civilian, it was difficult for him to ensure that Jerwa was brought to court. Mr Kokulye said his cousin is currently working as a guard for one of the army generals.

“This Major General told me that if you bring Yasin to court and you don’t come back with him, don’t come back here,” Mr Kokulye said.

Worried that her husband may remain in prison for a crime he did not commit, Ms Grace Jemba, Mr Kokulye’s wife, reached out to NTV-Uganda, for assistance.This prompted the UPDF legal team to bring Jerwa to court to face his charges. Jerwa pleaded guilty to the charges and is due for sentencing on June 12.

“I feel so happy, relieved and excited, and thanks so much to NTV,” Ms Jemba said after her husband was released from prison last week.

For skipping bail, Jerwa, who had paid Shs1m as bail during his temporary release last year, will now forfeit it to the government.

Who is a surety?

A surety is a person who guarantees to the court that the accused person will turn up for his or her trial if released on bail and wait for his/her criminal matter to be heard. The surety also accepts the responsibility to pay a fixed sum of money (bond) to the government if the accused does not appear. He or she must be above the age of 18 and have good moral standing.

Mr James Ereemye Jumire Mawanda, the public relations officer of the Judiciary, said everybody in Uganda is free to stand surety for anyone.Mr Mawanda, however, said those intending to stand surety should ensure that the people they are doing it for will honour the bail conditions.

“We can only tell the people to understand the responsibilities of being a surety and some of them are that you must ensure that person shows up in court,” Mr Ereemye said in a telephone interview with Daily Monitor yesterday.

He added: “If there are any reasons that the accused person is unable to show up in court, like him being sick, you as a surety must go to court and produce documentary evidence like medical forms to prove that indeed, the accused person is sick.”

Mr Mawanda warned that if there are any challenges such as the suspect refusing to go to court, the surety should at the next court session tell the court about it.“…ask to be assisted by being given police to look for him. With such steps; you would have discharged your responsibility as a surety. You just don’t sit back and don’t inform the court about your challenges,” he said.

He added: “I want to thank the UPDF for producing their own since an innocent surety was suffering in prison. I want to thank them through your media that they understood the predicament of an innocent surety and that was very wonderful of them. I want to thank the Judiciary for releasing the surety too,” he added.

Mr Daniel Angualia, a lawyer with Angualia, Busiku & Co Advocates, said a surety risks being incarcerated if the accused breaks the terms of his or her bail.

“For police, once you stand surety for someone, you remain with a duty of ensuring that the person reports to police whenever required.  If the person disappears, you can be charged with being an accessory after offence/assisting the suspect to escape from facing the law,” he said.

He added: “Also as a surety, you will pay bail money if the accused person fails to appear in court as well as attend all hearings related to the case.”

The Law

According to the Constitution (Bail Guidelines for Courts of Judicature) (Practice) Directions, 2022, Legal Notice No. 8, the obligations of a surety are to ensure the attendance of the accused person before court, whenever required; the duty to sign the bail bond form, inform court where an accused person is not able to attend; and the liability to pay the bail bond sum should he or she fail to ensure the attendance of the accused person before court.

But before the surety is admitted, Section 16 of the practice guidelines demands that the court explains them their obligations that arise when they are finally considered one.