19780622 TZHC Dodoma

IN THE HIGH COURT OF T;\.NUJiIA ,,·. AT DOOOMA ' . APPELLATE JURISDICTION (DODOMA REGISTRY); .. CRII--"IJiAL ·1i.rPEAL l\TO. 266. OF 1977 oRIGPJAL CRIMIN £1,.1 c_,\SE i10·. 606 o~ · 1976 · · MYOE •!'If ";.TCOMELO · •.•••· •• :_- ~ ••• ·••• : :A-ppeilant t • • . • ,· versus THE REPUBLIC ·• ••••• •. • ~ • • • • • Respondent JUDGMENT CHIIBTA. J. . . .... . ~- . . ~ . -t ... : • The four appellnnts R'lnis'.i Mr isho, Myoe M~.kor.wlo :, Lucas Molwa rmd St"'.lehe Chigundu\ wore: ·jointly chG.r[::Gc1 ,,Ji th and convicted of the .offence· -of robbery with violence o/ ss. 286 and 285 of the Penal ·6ode, and were each sentenced to seven ye·1.rs ir:J.prisonment. They now appeal, ::Lnd their ~l:T:·e2ls . ', l have been consolid.sted. ·. ·. ' For cqnvinience, I will re'te1' to 'them as the first, second, thir_d, ::i.nd fourth acqused, respectively, which :is the order in which they appeared ::1t the trinl. . ' . ; .. ~ The ·convi.c{ions were fo·nded ori 'the· following evifuinCB·~ the co □plainant, one Yohana, crime to .Llodo□a town:Shi.P to sr$b his sick sister. He had a tin of mqize for gr.inding qt s or.le □il J. .in to-vm. Ho also h3.d.shs •. 160/= which w::ts for his s.ick sister. on···arriv?.i in town, PW.1'-.bought some buns r:i,nd sn..t under sor.10 tree fnci-n.g the bus stand. ·~.s he qte his buns, the second accused appro-'1.ched him :::md asked him where KAUDO bus stop w:1.s, to w10 ich PW.1 replj_ed tfr,.t ·he did not know. While the second accused w~s still there, another person appeared 3nd asked PW.1 where the bank was, and PW. 1 agn.in :,-s'lid he did not lmowl Thereafter the nan left the place:; r-mg. as he wn.s going 8-Way, he deliberately dropped a wi'illet •. The second accused then enthusiastically Sll£rgested to PW .1 th·1t they --- should pick up the W8.llet. rw .1 , however, dei?.lined the off er. The second n.ccused then picked up the WA.llet and disn~pe:1.red. Having eaten his buns, ·::r,:J .1' picked up his tin of maize and headed for the grinding mili which is next to the Regional Trading Cor1pany /\dministr·ition building. /1.s it wns a Sunday, the mill w2s closed. (1.t that po:tnt, PW .1 decided to attend to -2. cr:.11 of n:.1.ture. He then walked into a blind alley_ ~nd stn.rtod to ease himself. ''..s PW. 1 did so, the second accused suddenly gr:ibbcd him, and shortly !lftor th·i,t the first, third and fourth accused persons and another person who is still at large cn.r:1e to the scene and started to ransack PW .1 's person. PW.1 yelled that ho was dying, which yell wqs :J.nswcred by one Naftali M!.:tlioa .(PW.2). As PW.2 came in line with the blind alley, he sa~ sor:ie 15 paces away, the 9-5:,·J!...:.d . , ... /2 : - 2 ) / accused person: h'blding J?W .• 1 while· the other accused pe·,_~sons and a fifth p0rson were -r;::i,ns2.cking FW .1' s pockets. Thoreuj1on rw. 2 piclrnd up a piece of wond and rushed to where tho culprits were.. On seeing. hiw, the •C,ulprits took tn their heals and vqnished jn different directions. By then, however, they had' m.''i.de aw?.,y with shs.:160/= of the crimplain,mt. -~- , ·PW .2, who hrtd ,s,eon the cu.lprit_s nt a distrmce of 15 yards, knew t'hd ·cuJ:priits .bef oro,. He in fact dcs·cribed then as "stand boys" who wero .often at th_c _bus st Md s.nd the central market n..reo.. He then told PW; 1 as rn.uch r:tnd n.dvi_sod rw. 1 to go and report the matter to police been.use he (?W.2) W'lS certain that the culprits·wouia•bc.located easily. Next d8.y rtl-l'-.-the.:.. ac.c:v.-scd; persons .were 8.rrost ed ii In their defence e:,'i,ch of-the accused persons so.id he did not visit Dodor.ia . township on the oaterial __ d,n,_y-_~ \· · The -1~'.irned resident riagistrate carefull·y r0vfe\fod ·the evidence and w~.s sat'isfied · that PW .1 and PW. 2 were truthful witnesses, end· so c01.me to tho conclusion that tho pcorile i:,rho robbed the complain2nt wore the four accused persons ?.nd "'..nother person who is s·t ill 'lt large. · On my. own view of the evidence, I r::q,n see_ no re:::1.son for Lbef orEw.i_mpugning the le2,rned magistro. te' ;_. findings of f'.lct. The saw incident occurre(: :..n broad daylight; PW .1' :'..-ac..d ample tit1'.1G :'. them to see at leas,t the second accused; o.nd PW. 2, who knew tho culprits .{from a distance of br:i.rely 15 ·paces. Tlle- witnesses, therefore, h.'l.d each a0ple time and opportunity to identify the culprits. The.re is, therefore, :no reason to disturb· . . •. . . . '· the· convictions. . .. . The sent ei19 e inposed on each of the nccusod persons is the, t:1.inimun prescr_i_bed by stqtute~ , In fine,• these appeals are disnissed in tr.cir -entirety •. Delivered in open ~ourt,at Dodooa this 22nd,,.day of June, 1978.