republic vs salum libenanga 2006 tzhc 162 20 april 2006

IN THE HIGH COURTOF TANZANIA AT MOROGORO ORIGINAL JURISDICTION CRIMINAL SESSIONS CASE NO. 36 OF 2005 REPUBLIC VERSUS SALUM LIBENANGA 20/4/2006 Coram: Mlay,J For the Republic: Ms. Lushagara S/A for For the Defence: Roma Advocate for Accused C.C. Aza The charge is read over and explained to the accused person in his own language (Kiswahili) and asked to plead thereto: PLEA OF ACCUSED; It is true Mr. Roma: The accused is offering a plea of guilty to manslaughter. Court: Entered as a plea of Guilty to Manslaughter. J.I. Mlay JUDGE 20/4/2006 FACTS Ms. Lushagara: The accused SALUM LIBENGA the stands charged with offence of Manslaughter c/s 195 of the Penal code. On 13.2.2005 at 8.00 pm while in Village, in Kilornbero District in Morogoro Region, the accused returned home. Upon arrival, there ensued a quarrel between the accused and his wife. The accused beat his wife and then went to sleep. The following day on 14/2/2005 the wife ISABELA d/o NDEKETELA left their house and went to the village of her parents in Malini. While on her way at Ifakara her condition deteriorated and she went to the house of one F. NDULU and told him that she had been beaten by her husband and she had stomach pains. JULGENGE NDULU took ISABELA NDEKETELA to the police Station where he obtained - PF.3 and sent her to hospital. ISABELA NDEKETELA died in hospital after twelve hours of her arrival. The body of the deceased was examined by a medical practitioner and the Postmortem Report established that the cause of death was due to ruptured spleen. The accused was arrested on 16/2/2004 and made a cautioned statement in which he admitted to have beaten the deceased. The accused was also taken to the Justice of the Peace and made an extra judicial statement, in which he admitted to have beaten the deceased. I pray to produce the PF.3 POSTMORTEM REPORT, CAUTIONED STATEMENT of the accused if the Defence has no objection. 2 Mr. Roma: No objection Court: PF.3, POSTMORTEM REPORT, CAUTIONED STATEMENT OF ACCUSED AND EXTRA JUDICIAL STATEMENT of accused are admitted and marked Exh. P.l, p.2, P3 and P4 respectively. Ms. Lushagara:That is all. Accused: I have heard the facts read out by the State Attorney. They are correct, I admit them. O rder: Tfle accused is convicted of MANSLAUGHTER c/s 195 of the penal code, on his own Plea of Guilty. JUDGE 20/4/2006 Previous Record: Nil MITIGATION M_r. Roma Advocate: The accused has pleaded guilty to the offence while regretting his action. I pray this court to consider that the accused is a first offender and that he is the head of his big family including the children of his deceased wife, which depends entirely on the accused. The accused has been in custody for a long time before being brought to court and he has learnt from his mistakes. I pray the accused be considered with leniency particularly 3 considering those who depend on him who may be punished without being at fault. That is all. SENTENCE The accused caused the death of the deceased who was his own wife by beating her. There was no apparent reason for beating his wife. A wife is required to be treated as the husbands partner and not an object of beating at the pleasure of the husband. Even taking into consideration that the accused is a first offender and that he has saved the court time and expenses of trial by pleading guilty, the act of beating up his wife must be considered to deserve a severe sentence, to serve as a lesson to others who may intend to conduct themselves in the manner in which the accused did. It is the sentence of this court that the accused is to go to prison for a term of ten years. The accused has the right to appeal to the court of Appeal Tanzania against the sentence. 20/04/2006 4