19870528 TZCA Dar es Salaam3

IN THE COURT OF APEJAL OF TANZANIA .AT :OAR ES . SALAAM CO.Ff!!: ]!1/~!,D'J1E4 J,.A •i KISAFJG.A 2 J .A. And OI~_{_~A. CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 39 OF 1986 MANYEHE KAULULE. • , • • APPELLANT VERSUS THE REPUBLIC. • • • ~ • • • • • .m~SPONDENT (Appeal from the conviction of the High Court of Tanzania at SingiclD) (Lugakingira, J.) dated_the 15th day·of November, 1985 in Crimina.l Sessions Cas~~7 o~84 JUDGMU:NT OF 'i'H~_C012B_T. OMAR 2 J ,_A. g Appellant Mariy-Ghe s/o• 1{8ulule wcJs charged with and convicted of murder, He now appeals against conviction. At 5.30 p.m. on 10,9,83 in H3bondcmi Villoge within Manyoni District, P.W.4 Rnmodhani Msasaa sow appellant angrily chasing his wife Leah Ramadhani. 3Ie remonstrated with him. Appellant explained. to P ,W .4 that Leah woo refusing to go to Mashamba, a place in the District he wanted. her to go \, - • J and live with him. Then P. \:I ,4 saw the ~ouple getting into the house of Leah's father. A few minutes later P.W.4 while he was in the pombe shop heard cries of alarm raised by appellant. He went to the house where he had just seen them enter and found appellant a.t the door who told him that his wife had hanc;ed herself .and he had. cut her down. He showed P. W.4 a pole on the roo! on which the a.p:pellant ~laimed she hacl used for tying the rope. P.W.4 saw Leah on the floor 9 he felt her hand. for a pulse but there was none. Her left eye was oozing blood. a.nd watery eubstance, it was crushed, her right eye was swollen, •oo••••/2, V - 2 - there wera scratch marks on ber neck siilla.r to those inflicted .by finger nailsa. and the.re was a; rop.e ·rollod around her neck. Other witness like the deceased ts r:i6ther end sister gave similar a.eooun t o f d ecease d genera 1 appearance. fj_hey add.ea. th"'. ,_ t there wer'"'..., mOJte bruises on the body such as on the chest and abdomen, foam on th~ mouth and blood from the nostrils and b.er tongue was protruding. P,W• 1 Dootor-';8l.dosa, who ~endered Post-mortem report, in his observations· - ~ out·~ the _possibility of suicide as averred by a.ppellant. ~cause he did not see any bruising all round the neck whioh wouJ,d .. have~,been the case in suicide by hanging. He further said her ey-ea WQJ:~ gr-0aa].y ~rotruding which was indicative of throttl~ The trial judge basing his d.ecision on the evidence ruled that there was no possibility of the d.eceD.sed committing suicide the way appellant described. itf beca1,1se the house ha.d a. low roof and. one had to bend to enter it. If she tried to hang herself her feet wouJ.d touch the ground.• The general appearance of the bod.y showed only violence 1;1ot self-inflicted. but inflicted by ano:ther person and thDt other person is ~one other than the appellant. Appellant 9 very su.rprisinglyp after all the alarms raised by him and the farrago of falsehood spread by him to relatives and fellow villagers, chose to remain quiet in court. We find. as did the trial judge that there was no suicide but deliberate act of d.ecima.tion by the appellant and we uphold the conviction of murd.er and .· . d,j.smis.e the _ap~-1 accordingly • . DfiTED ·a;t ·D1'Ji ES S /;,L.AAM this 28th dEy of May 9 1987. ·.. ~' •;•{' L. M. MAKAJ'IE -- ... JUSTICE OF APPEfi.L R • H. KI SA.NGA _JUSTICE OF APPEAL