Criminal Appeal No

in t h e C o u r t o f a p p e a l ott-mmm AT MBEYA (CORAM: Mustafa, J »A»j Hwakasendo^ J»ii« ain.cL Ki _J < ) CRIMINAL APPEAL NO, 46 OP 1979 D 1ST W E E H MOFAT M03SS KAJANGE........................... . . APPELLANT AHD THE REPUBLIC ...................................... RESPONDENT (Appeal from the Conviction of the Hifiji Court of Tanzania at Tukuyu) (Makame, J.) dated tha 2nd day of May,. 1979, IN CRIMINAL SESSIONS CjVSE NO. 38 'OF 1778 JUDGMENT OF TOE COURT MUSTAFA, J.A.: The appellant was convicted of murder in the High Court at Mbeya, lie was represented by couneel, Mr. Mwailunga, At the commencement of the appeal, but before the appeal go: under way, the ippellant asked to withdraw his c^ansel and his coun el retired. Phe appellant then argued his appeal in person. The prosecution case i$ that the deceased v;:.s stabbed by the appellant which resulted in ois death shortly afterwards. The appellant's defence is an alibi. He maintained that he was nowhere at the scene when the deceased was stabbed to death, but at the material time he was at his own shamba soma miles away. For the prosecution, there is a num'bqp of witneeses who testified to the effect that the appellant and the deceased were at a drinking group at Ushirilca, Tukuyu, shortly before the deceased was stabbed to death. P.W.1 Frank Swebe, a relative of the deceased, was at the drinking place when he saw the appellant and the deceased both leave and'go' outside. P.W.1 followed them as ho did not wor.t the deceased to drink any more. He saw the appellant and the door walking away immediately thereafter he saw the appellant stab the deceased, with a knife at his abdomen. He ran to the place where the deceased was and saw his intestines hanging out and the stomach split. At that time another witness P.W.6 Taranpe Kiloma, who was in no way related to the deceased, was walking towards the por.it>o club from a maize-mill. She saw the appellant strike the deceased as she walked past thorn and immediately thereafter she saw P.V.1 rushing past her and she helped P.W.1 in tying up the deceased who was badly injured and who was then taken in a vehicle to hospital. Then there is P.W.5, Mishioni Kang'opo, who was also at tho drinking group. He stated that he saw both the appellant and the deceased at the drinking place and saw both of then going out, and shortly afterwards he heard an alarm that the deceased had been stabbed. Similarly, P.W.G Bagonago Ssunbo said he was at the drinking place where he saw the appellant and the deceased at the material tine. P.W.7 Anna Mwanjabala, a resident of Ushirika, Tulcuyu, met the appellant running away from where the drinking party was shortly before she heard that the deceased was stabbed. Similarly, P.YMO, Hudson Mwanyalu, said he was at the drinking place and he saw the appellant and the deceased drinking there. And then there is P.W.J, Sam Mwafula, who said that there was an incident about cigarettes between the appellant and the deceased at the drinking place shortly before the appellant and the deceased went out together. On top of all this P . W . 6 , whon she was helping to tie up the injured deceased, said that she heard the deceased complain that he had, been stabbed by the appellant. As against all this mass of evidence, the appellant simply stated that he was not there. He said all the prosecution witnesses had told lies against him. He went to the extent to allege that the Doctor (P.I/.2), who gave formal evidence as to the cause of death, was also a liar, .... /3 - - 3 - He maintained that some witnesses told lies against him because of their being-related to the deceasedand some beoause of envy9 and some had no reason to tell lies at all* The trial judge was satisfied that the appellant was at the Club at Ushirika where there was drinking at the material time, and he believed the prosecution witnesses, and he particularly believed P.W.1 and P.W.6, and he was satisfied that it was the appellant who had stabbed the deceased to death. The assessora were also of the same view* We have also assessed the evidence.. We have carefully gone through all the proceedings and we find that we are also of the same view as the trial judge. We have no doubt that it was the appellant who had stabbed the deceased to death. The appeal l,s dismissed* DATED at MBEYA this 8th day of S eptember, 19QQ* JUSTICE 0. PP3AL JlJST^Uii; ur* ^j •if JUSTICE 6T TiAL ' \ ... . V .L ^ DEPUTY REGISTRAR