19720212 TZHC Dodoma

IV IN THE HIGH COURT OF TANZANIA AT DODOMA EOA.COAO CR0 APP. NO.21/1974 ORIGINAL JURISDICTION (DODOMA REGISTRY) .• •-.-•-• CRIMINAL SESSIONS CASE NO. 86/73 8J i74 -f - THE REPUBLIC VERSUS - 1, LEO GREGORY - 2 O FIDELIS VALERIUS Charge: Murder c/s 196 of the Penal Code, J U D G M E N T MAPIGANO_AG.JO The two accused persons namely Leo sb Grogory and Fidelis Valerius are charged with the murder of a woman called Dorotheo d/o Mwandu. The facts of this case are within narrow compass and are not in dispute. Briefly they are that the deceased died on August 11, 1972 at Kwamtoro village in Kondoa district. She was coming from drinking local liquor when she was seized by the two accused and forib1y pressed into a pond of water where she died of drawning, Her body was discovered in the following morning at the scene of death Both accused made 'extra judicial statements to Mr. Msele v J0P 0 in which they unequvocally admitted to havel caused the death, They explained 'that they resolved to kill her because they believed the stories of certain local sorcerers, that it was she who had killed • their children by bewitching them,. Leo Greg6ry believed that hi two children had been so killed and Fedelis Valerius believed that the deceased was responsible for the deaths of his three children, The deceased who was related to both accused was, at the time she met her death, living at the first accuseds house. - I find; on the evidence tendered, that it was the act of the accused which caused the death of the deceased and that it was of malice aforethought0 It is also clear that the accused had decided to kill her before she went to drink. Certainly the .. belief they entertained that the was responsible for the deaths of their children cannot be given weight, It cannot in the circumstances of this case, amountto a legal prcvocation which would have served to reduce the offence to manslaughter. In the event, I find the accused persons guilty of murder and convict them accordingly. D.P. MAPIGANO AG, JUDGE 1212/72: Court at before. 0000. • •• • • •. -• - - Chambakare for the Republic. El—Maamry f or the Accused S Accuseds present under custody. Judgment pronounced. Allocutus - Nil Sentence There is only one sentence which this court may pass and which it now does pass.. That is you Leo s/o Gregory and Fidelis s/a Valerius, shall suffer death by hanging.. Right of appeal to the Court of Appeal explained. D.P. MAPIGANO AG, JUDGE 12/2/74 *