19800213 TZHC Dar es Salaam

/8,i2 J /C IN THE HIGH COURT OF TANZANIA AT DAR ES SALAAN APPELLATE JURISDICTION HIGH COURT CRIMINAL APPEAL NO0 41 AND 94 OF 1979 ORIGINAL CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1 OF 1978 OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF DAR ES SALAAI'1 DISTRICT AT KISUTU Before W. S. Mandia, Esq.,.............. Resident Magistrate NASSORO ABDALLAH MASUKILA .o.o.,......io,00...o..... APPELLANT versus THE RE)UBLIC ••, , . .. • •••. •• 0 • • • RESPONDENT Charge: Unlawful possession of Government Trophy and Failure to report possession of Government Trophy contrary to Sections 67(i.)(2)(b) and 68(J.)(2) of the Wildlife Conservation Act. No, 12 of 1974. JUDGEMENT KIMICHA, J. — The two appellants in this case, NasSorO Abdallah Masukila and Jordan Moyo were jointly charged and convicted of Unlawful possession of Government Trophy contrary to Sections 67(1)(2)(b) of the Wildlife Conservation Act No. 12 of 1974 and sentenced to three years imprisonment each. The facts of the case as found by the trial court are that a group of thirty six Anti-Poaching Officers was on the night of 19th May, 1978 at around 3015 a.m. on patrol around the Mioka Village area in the Rufiji District. They were in uniform and armed, They, at around 3.15 a.m o met a Land Rever with Registration numbers ST 9990. They stopped it and on it were the two appellants. Nassoro Abdallah Masukila was on a front seat passenger and Jordan Moyo was the driver. OA interrogation, Nassoro Abdallah Masukila told the Game Officers that they were from the Water Department Dar es Salaam and had gone to visit his colleagues in the area but as he did not find them he had decided to return to Oar es Salaam in the same night. The game officers introduced themselves and told them that they wanted to search their vehicle. But before searching the çehicle they asked them the kind of luggage that they were carry- ing. Whereupon Nassoro Abdallah told them that he had only four bags of eharcoal. The Land rover had three doors only. a-2- The driver's door, the front seat passengets door and a rear door which was locked. The rear door was opened by Jordan with •a key and the four gunny bags containing the charcoal were offloaded for inspection. The four bags were untied and the.charcoal poured onto the ground. Alas! In addition to the charcoal each bag had pieces of elephant tusks tied in bundles. Fifty five pie:es of elephant tusks weighing 144.2 kilograrnes and valued At Shs. 50,4001= were recovered from the four gunn' bags. The appellants failed to produce the appropriate permits to justify their possession. In his defence Nassoro Abdallah said that he was a mere passenger given a lift by jordan Moyo. Denied any knowledge of the tusks. And Jordan claimed in his defence that he was kid- napped by a gang of robbers and was forced by the gangsters to drive the vehicle to Nioka area where the gangsters loaded the four bags containing the tusks. That the robbers managed to escape just before their arrest. The trial magistrate dismissed the appellants defence stories as afterthoughts because they did not relate, them to the game officers at the time of their arrest. I find that there was sufficient evidence before the lower Court justifying the appellants conviction. And as they have both.been sentenced to the minimum sentence in respect-of the offence of which they have been convicted, the appeal is dismissed in its entirety. Delivered in open Court at Dar es Salaam this 13th day of February, 1980. (M. P. }&.KIM±CHA) JU