19870511 TZHC Dar es Salaam 1

APPELLATE JCm.ISDICTION filGH COURT CRIMINAL APPEAL N0.13 OF 1987 ( ORIGIF::.L CJ.Ei:Il:_·__ T., ~;_,:.;:;:; l:C'" l,9 o::• 1:)/JG OJ::1 ~:iIE DISTRICT GIIARIBU ICC".0RA ISSA SAID LTL1LEDA l 0 0 0 ~ C D O O O . vcrsuc o O O ,. 0 O O O O O O O O O O ~ O O' ~~ O o O O APPELLANTS TI~. REPUTILIC •••• , ••••••• ., "." c •••••••• " ••••• _ ••• 0 • , •••• m{SP01IDENT Tb.is is an appeal by G::o,r:Lhu. i:v. c.l:i. 2., a!:.d :'.:::;:;c;, Saidi Litanda. 1 0 whom I shall hoi oim.1-.:::'tor ::ofor J::::, c,c ·'.;' .c :Zirst and. second accused, 0 • respectively, against t>uir con-;~ic·0ion o,ml cent once o:f three years T:~.e crucial ,, wi tncss for the prosecution was PW1 Police Constable lliward. He told the court that on the night of 23/io/86 at about 11 p.m. he saw the two appellnnts pushi;1g a motorcycle. The:J?e was bric;~1t olcc·0r:.c lir/:·0 .::.-;; t'..1c; scoi1e 1rLich 1-ms near the offices of t::.-w dop2-rtmont of Natural Resources. 'Ed.wnrd lmew the appellants boforo4 T..:,_c firat accv. sed ur,s vearine o, yellow shirt and ho was !.:..olclinc tho stocri115 of the motorcycle as he pushed it while the second n,ccv. sccl p"J..shed ·l;b.e notorcycle :frora behinda On seeing ·i;~10 Police Constc0le~ ·c;:i.e 2.p11ollants ran away G.nd abancloned the motorcycle. Police Cons-cable Edwnrcl ro..isec"i. o,larm b-J shouting 11Mwizi! Mwizi.! 11 a~1cl o. watcl'lnan 1-rl:o WP..S in t:.10 office uent to the scenoo The ,m·0cJ.mo,n, P[-;3 L·JU.e,J_:'. :.:i> L:1.1°:i. J ,;aid -t:.w:c when he arrived at the scone, hr.., sm; tho 2,"\Ja:rnlonod. no-corcyclc hrc he did not see the appellants. The 1:1ctorc;rclc w2,s lc:.tor sent to the Police Station and an official of the ifatur2.l Rcsou.rcos Office lc-,tcr confirmed it was stolrn :froEJ. ·0l:u storo ,--~:ic> :·r: ,G 1,rol:en intoo • A se::rc~i ~-:-,s c::c..~,.wted in the first accused 1 s house and a· yollo,T s::..irt was founcl there. The second accused was found wearing the same red shirt which he was allegedly wearing on the night the offence was comi~ittod~ Tho appoll2.,r:t 'c c:..o::\:mco wr..r:J a conplote deniaL They gave an account• of tl1cir :-..1over,1c:1t:::; ·c:.10 r:,2::~t t:rn 0L:oi.1ce is alloc;ed to have been cor:lf.1ittoC:.o 7-:oy s:-,ic.l tJ.~r/c t>.oy co.ch 1,ont to lJocl in their rospoctivc ;1c~..1r;s ;:1-;; 9. 30 p.iJ. TJ.~o o,;1pcllant::; t!.J.en said that they wcro arrested on ·che follo,rinc C.::-y,., 2/• .,0 • • 2 The lec,,rned CListrict i:ia.;;ir::·:;l'ato m.·otG <J. ;rnil i.... reasoned judgement and cior:~i:lered ii1 ~-;Teat detail -the eviclencc of identification of ·c~w a.ppcllD-ntso Nra I'h:canclo; learned counsel f'or the appellants 9 subr,1i·c-~ud. -~:-.<'-t ·'.:· .e: iclontification evidence was not sufficient fo b2.so a 001.·riction. 'l1l:o ~::,rosecutibn case, as tlle 1 0arnocl r_1s.,ric.; 1 · --'- · " ··1-r•_. r,·•·~a"·c ;,.~.,,_..t.,:,l,.1.. -~ .• , ·"'--,·1-' ,,o,... ,.,.,.cled .cL,,..u,.• ,~L-,A.,!• · on tl.10· testimo11y of PW1 Police Consto.-::lo Ech:·cr.rd. Er. ~•/Io,ro,nclo urged this cow:i.t not to believe ·t;J,o uitness. Witl1 groc,t =-'o:Jpcct 9 I can fincl no basis for ·chis sub,:ti::;;3:i.011. '.l:~1ero wu:;:-c oloctric lights at the scene where P oC &Ed.ward sc:-.,w ·c:.:c appoll::mts pushing the motorcycle. He was about fifteen pc,cos away f:ron tl:-..or.1. IIG L:new both appellants before. ITo even described the clothes they were wGaring. C0.-n it be said t'·.&t ·c::..o conclitions for correct identification were J.iffi- cul t? I do not agree ·that the Constable could not recognize the appellants. To support what he said 9 when t:~o :fiJ~at accused 1 s house was searched a ;fellow shirt l:-2,s fouml -b]1oroo '.-::11:w second accused .-,as arrested wearing a shirt as descri1Jocl lJy the ,;Ji tness. It was subrai·i;·i;c,cl on bo>.alf of' t~:G appellants that if the witness had identified the apl)ollc1ats, tLcn ho no,.,ld llavo arrested them the same night. But the 1-ritnc3s tol.:l t~w court that it was at 11600 p.m. when he saw the nppolle,n-ts, s.i11e;r ran away and abandoned the motor- 1 cycle. So t:1e ·;,i tno;:,o :.iatl -co rc:.,ise alarm, and people went there. It was decided t0 take ·clw motorcycle to t!10 Police Station. The appella- nts wore arrestee:.. t:.c.o follc·rinc; irtOrning. R-r1 Fdirard had told Pl"T3 Abdallah at the scone that }.10 (illward) l12,cJ. roco.::;nized the thieves, That is further proof "l;;1at lill-:·w,rd knm-r the;:.:i. ' It was not necessary for Edward "lio mention. tho 112.rnes ta Alxlallah., Edward was consistent throu- ghout and that rna(.:.e it possi1Jlo for "li:.10 nppellants to be arrested the following day" Tl:.e learned district magistrate was impressed by the demeanour of the witnesses and this court finds no r0ason to come to a different All tho matters mentionecl in Ha,~fri v Aoan 1980 TLR 250 were conGidered ;:-,ncl re:Gol,rc:::l ~;y t>. o trial court. 'I1hoce m0-tters were, for example~ t!1e dic·:;anco at 1;-~ich ·[;:_10 ,·ritness ·;-r2.s nhen ho srwr the the fact that -that there 1-m.c l:ric-]1t li:'.}.l.Jc z.::; ·tho scone. All ·these made the trial court to cor:10 "co -~:.e conclusion t:,_o/c thei·o 1-,eto proper c.1,nd correct identi- fication of tho ar,:poll.:mto ;:,;7 t::c 1-ii tness. I can find no reason at all to differ ui th ·c~1e trial ;:-i.::.;_:::ist::c::lie on his 11110-~ysis of t!le eviclence and his conclusions .. 3/.••.• ,•• _j Mr. 112-:;:·.:.mdo :finally submitted that the trial magistrate did not consider the defence at all. But the defence was a mere denialo The appellants alleged that they l'!Ont to bocl at 9,.30 p.rn. that night 1111d. tJ_:,.cvc they 1roi·o a,1°ros·cccl -~ho :foll01·,i11g day.; That ·was alibi but it was not supportocl lJy any Enridonceo In view of the prosecution evidoace Hhicl: t~~e ::1.:\,;·istrato believed, the defence was properly rejected,, The offence 1ras commi·i;ted at 11 p.m. and there can be no doubt -i;h2,t the appolla~'!.ts were adequately identified., The appellants wore properly co1wictecl and sentcncco.• In tho result, this e,,ppec:t,l is clismiocecl in its entirety. _\ (),\ ' . II,!', ,Af\ ·, I./',,, ..,~~\_!\~,,_/, _1,v-' {lT.J .MAHJA) J1JDGE Dar es Salaai11 11th May 1 1987 Marando for the appellants. M.iss/ Khad.ay,. State Attorney, for the' Republic.