NA TZCA Dar es Salaam4

IN THE C0UR'f OF Al?PEi1L OF ':';,;;z;:..,NIA - -and J .A. BETRAM MAPUNDA oooooooouoooodoooo APPELLANT l.ND ' THE REPUBLIC •••••••••••••••;; •••• RESPONDENT ' (Appeal from the convictici of the High court of Tanzania at Mtwar.::1 (Msumi, J) dated 31st October, 1984 in criminal Sessions Case ·No. 47 of 1982,; ii JUDGEMENT OF THE COURT MUSTAFA, J.A. 11, '11 The-appellant was charged w:. th another•.! per son of murder of the . ' deceased, who was the appellant's wife • The other person was acquitted 'I but the appellant was convicted ::s charged.: He is appP.aling from his conviction. The deceased died from a dee9 cut wound on her neck, caused appaJ"ently by a sharp weapon. Two caro::id ~rteriee and the jugular vein I• wexe cut and the cause of death·, according to the rr,~dical evidence, -. ::-~~ waa shock resulting from excess1• 1 P bleeding.'I Indeed the head was p~actically severed from her body, only a pi'ece of skin held the head ·I'1 to the neck. 11 i On the material day the appellant was a't home. It WC)uld seem that the death Of the deceased was discovered e~ound midday. According to ,,, the appellant who tP.stified, he he.:•,:-d his ch~ld ctying out, and he went into the house and on opening the door of the bed room, discovered the • I oe1ee1ed lying on the bed; already dead. The=e was a knife by her side. :i The bed•was in good order, so was the room, and the deceased was covered Ii . with a blanket. 'l J · The appellant did not approach the deceasi~d ,I t but went and reported the death to the villag(1 S'=cretary and his own f athero He told them thai he had discovered that the deceased was ?Aad and how he came to f;j.nd that out. He gave as his opinion that ✓'ased must have killed he,eelf. ••••• /2 \ /i • ,,, C 2 ·I When the bed room was visited, it was distovered that there was li practically no blood on the bed or in tl-!e room~ ;J:f the deceased was fl killed in the ·room, from the nati.1r.~ 0£ tli,.: wound inflicted, there must \; i have be~n a pool of blood 0;1 the bed or ,:ndern~eth i to ,j . 1\ Later at some distance from the hocse, 11I ab:out ,, 200 pacAs, a hole was il !J found in which articles of clothing belonging :to :th<? appellant were ·1 ;! discovered o The clothes were blood stained. The. trial judgP- was of .the . ~ 1 opinion, and we agree, that the d("1C,1ased must hav,P. been kill~d outside the 1 house and then the body was brought in and put'!I ori the bed. That could . account for the lack of blood on th~ bBd or in.i the i roomo 'f :j 1 According to the doctor who p(?rform~d the.J p~ st mortem examination, l : I it was not possible fo~ the deceased to have cut ~ff her neck in an ,jl I ., attempt at suicidco That cut wound was mado with grP-at force and must have i; I been inflicted by some one else. _il l,j :1 :I According to th"~ appP-llant himself only h~! and thP. deceased were in Jf !i or around the house on the rnatl!rial day. The'i othf.?r accused charg<1d with ,I I '1 the appellant had left the ho.use before the a~pe+lant discovered th'3 dead !1 ' body of his wife. ltii 1'· . There was no motive discovered for the? ki:lling, al though there was i I some very vague suggestion that there could hate :Jbeen an undercurrant of witchcraft because of the 4 children born to the !·deceased 1: 3 had died and the survivor was 111. · However the circuit1standes .ldetailcd above point l , . .i.rrestibly to the appellant as the or1ly person who could have killed the ,, · i 1: decea1ed. .There was nobody else with th0. appi 114nt and the deceased at 1 the material time when the deceasec was killedo 'It was in daylight. The ii i: explanation given by th.? .<?ppella:it that the d~ceased had killed he.J:self ,,i :I was :. grotesquely r:..dic"Jlu;.;s, and could only ·:have be~n a desperate attempt 1 to t~y to divert attention from himself.· j[ . i: ,1· ,I I ,1 The nature of the wound inflicb:-!d on the l'de<::easAd clearly showed an ; I intentton to kill or caus~ s~rious injury. wJ are satisfiP.d that the :I .: t»1al judge was right in h.1.s cor:clusion that tihe , appellant had murdP.red the ;1 decessed. We dismiss th··-~ e.ppeaL 1 1 ~I, if 'I I " o••••/3 Ii .J 3 • A. J\:USTAFA I JUSTICE OF APPEAL - ·I L. M. MAKAME , JUSTICS OF /\PPEi\L . I :1 A..MoA• OMAR I JUSTICE OF Ju'PEAL I I c:: is a true copy of th~ 9riginal. I - \ (_ I. \U l . ,;;, "-.'"--. -l ..... _ -~:-.::::_ (J. H. MSOFFE)-, D.EPUTY REGISTRAR_ 't I: