19711013 TZHC Mwanza

Il 2i-L HIGH OOUII T O' TA ZAILA AT LdJHZL Appellate Jurisdiction cnhiaNM APPEAL NO. 670 OF 1970 (Original C±isiina1 Case No. 331 of 1970 of the District Court oi Kigora before F. A. Munyora Bsq., Resident Magistrate). SAID RAJABU IIUSA YAB. . . .. , . , . . .APPELLANT (oRII:;.L1 ACCUSED) versus TILi REPçJBLIC . . . $ . . . . . • , •RESPONDUITT (OhiGIL1L PROSECUTOP) C1I1JIGE:— Being in possession of raw gold c/s (i) and 16(1) and (2) of the Gold Trading Ordinance, Oap.127. JUDGMENT J, - The appellant was sentenced to pay a fine of S.105/— or three iriontha in clef ault after he ;.as found guilty of being in possession oi raw gold which was also ordered to be forfeited to the-United Reb1ic The appeal is destitute of merit, P..;.1, a police oflicer, searched the appellant' s house in the presence of the appellant and two other civi- hans. Prom a ladies' shoe hanging' on tL.e w&l in one of the roas he fisl:cd out nunerous pieces of stone which appeared to him to be gold and lie was not positively impressed by the appellant' s explanation that hc were a s1ecacne to cure headache lie sent the pieces to the Mineral llasoCCS Iaboratorj in Dodonia and the consequent Assayer' s report revealed -the-h the pieces of metallic material sent contained 276 grams of gold. P.J.2, one of the civilians present during the search, told the trial court tln the pieces wore numerous but that the stone produced in evidence was bigc-r than arr of the ones he saw being taken out of the shoe' His testimony as to the number of pieces supports that of the police officer who didtie search arc. is similar to that of Detective Corporal Isidor who took the sealed cover to Dodoma and who was present when the cover was opened by the Assner nd who \7 that there were many particles of stones" ; q The fact -hint only one , piece was eventually produced in evidence does not detract frosi the soundrea of the conviction if one takes into account the Assayer's report and Corporsl • Isido's evidmice The gold was extracted from the exhibit and during the course of the assaying' exercise the original forn of the e:thibit was altered the other civilian present during the search, id there were three pIeces, vthich would seem to contradict the rest of the evidence However, he made it clear that he was in fact in a different room when the pieces were discovered, that he did not in fact count them to ascertain their number and did not get close enough to them. The appellant gave an expla- nation, which not surprisingly failed to impress the learned trial nagiotrnhe positively, that what the police officer got from the shoe were crushed pieces of roots which were his children' s medicine and that the policeman said he too wanted the medicine for his own chi1drcn A 1itc shoe i s hardly the place to keep the medicine for one's children in The appeal has nothing of substance and is accordingly dismissed en tir ely. Delivered in Court at Mwanza on this the 13th of October 1971- LAJ\ 1 (L. I:. flakame) JUDGES ----------'--