na TZHC Singida

IN THE HIGH COUTI.T OF TANZANIA AT SINGIDA, ORIGINAL JUIISDICTICN, (DoJ1oMA REGISTRY) RIINAI SESSIONS CASE NO, 114 OF 1971,

THE I REPUBLIC v:RsUs IDA SIO NKUI(I. ATD ALUTE MtJNA: .,,.00ACCUSEDS. CHAB.GE Nurder c/th 196 of Procedure Code. /JUD@NE N T/ KWIKINA AG, J. The two a cused stand charged with the murder of one Salima Alias Baha Nkang ia on 25th August, 1969. They have pleaded not guilty to the cha: ge. The proseution have not explained why it took them almost two years before they decided to bring up this case for hearing. One can only conjcture that the lack of evidence as to whether the deceased death was the result of foul play and if so whether these two accused were responsible for that foul play could have be the reason for dily-dallying. The octo' who perfomed the post-mortem on the deceased was not available forcross•examination. His report which was tendered by the records cle:'k showed that the deceased died of shock due to internal haèmorrhge resulting from a lacerated spleen. The deceasE. was found to havesustained broken ribs. The report is silent, however, as to whether this injury was inflicted on the deceased by another personi There is no evidenOe to indicate that the deceased's injurywas inflicted by foul play either. With all this I find myself unable to say, with any degree of certainty, that the death of the deceased.was the result of foul play. The proseution have adduced evidence that the accused had • motive for killing the deceased in that they believed her to be •

witch. There i evidence from P.W4 Ndele Mkuki that the deceased was named as, a witch at a meeting where the first accused said he would be carryinga sharp billhook with which to kill anyone practising witch craft. It is a notorious fact of life, to be taken judicial notice of,that Tanzanians generally believe that some of them are witches who should at least he ostracised if not eliminated altogether. Since the deceased was declared to be a witch at a publicgathering, anyone besides the accused would have desired and sought to eliminate her. It cannot be said therefore, that only the acciI.sed and no one else could have killed her for that reason. Aftr all the 1st accused did not threaten the deceased personally. He threatened all those who were named as witches at the meeting called by the 2nd accused. It is an record that 'other peoplebesides the deceased were also named to be ,/2.