Aaron Zulu v People (Appeal No. 19 of 1988) [1990] ZMSC 22 (25 October 1990)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF ZA113IA . ., , __ ]" HOLDEN AT LUSAKA ,, ,; : .::t~rtt ·1·i_.~;~ ·; ·,; ~~d 'i.h:'~mst: J 'i~~r. ~ tttJt t-h!:: tit~ a:t ··\fh!ch- tht. ·,fltght ~,«t_¢tt. (Criminal Jurisdi1;~ion) rn;, :m ;J\1ty 1,;1,~; Z.'IJ;i}O h()uts, wher~itts thit ·• .,. '"'··r·-' ;.-,n •,i(r.c~;,ii" 1i,1d r~J'f,rr'!'trl to the t:i:11'.:i as ~ing ta,?o: .,·: ·• :_. MROfi ZULUpros,:;cui;.lon ,Appellantcct;h<l :.,. ,, r~~ • CORAM: ' •J.. ; ' ,, '.: ,; THE ,PEOPLE. '(ii$ il Ci'l,,) Respondent :' , .-d. •:1•..'i<·,,. .. -.~• ~~:HJ r,1:~ •. ;,~1 ~-,·•\1·;.f:~;. l"t!tt.ak:•~•fl.. ·, Ngulube, D. C. J., Gardner,· J. S., ·and Bweupe, Ag. J. S., : .... : .... tv~~'ttl OJ:toP!!r,,:~9.88.~: •·) -"· ,,. , ,,. , :-· . ~~~e~~1~t i~e~!~~0~t~t~ Advochte: 'for"ttiE?r~sp~ri~~nl; ttic\i/tn~~lq: . i' . · o.;;,J:~:;'.;'':::n:;:~::~1:t~::;~''·:/i! l•V·:,f10app0Jl~nt,J!~\i}t,}){[f{.; t :•; ,; ;c;' 1:. t:,~ pUinD,; !i1ir.l,,,E::!f t.1lil eppoll~nt l.i1Jh:l{J\:Y;i:{ Gardner, J. S., delivered ttie judgnMint1 ofrth-e eour£'1fi'11;. C!Jl:1:o1,:' 't:: ....... ,v "'~1,;.., ~h.,•.-n~,;., .... ~,.,o;.~~.;,.¥~/.lf .:-,;• ,'.• . ,,, '•: .. ·, ,_,,_ t t; >.: y ii::n, t11~ or;,; 11110 ,1rN.st;;;ct, or &pJJY:·eJwry!;lel;j : ;, , , . , ,.,,, .. •l>'> -...,,_- ' ' ' The appel 1 ant. was conv i;cted ·.of, ,.aggravated,irobber. Y;'iithi_'' ",.' ··· ·• ' ' . ,' ' : , ., ,1. .., particulars of the charge being.,that,; he/:together,. with,ranother~!;;r.: man, on the 8th- of August? 1986,:;1at1,lusaka::did ,steal, 1f'quantit'y:J1 . of· property .value~ at K31O.82n;-;rl;~e-,property1 of; 'Jer.e;iP,eter,;,.,.andit at the .time of ~!!Ch stealing did ,use:actuaL,vio.lence.;;to ·,the.,sai~a-wisi . Peter Jere., I'; :i"l.tt,,n' .,\i,d J.n fr;/;/t the j)l)QSiCUtl(;:ll •/~f.•¾lil'i<f~'::w~ijy\;[;:,;{, : .· l, .,,,,, i'Y th,;, J~:)rn0,;; tric1l .h11Jg"-\. lvhi'!!i they said th11t lltlt;ptr:ly;"'.,X/·: . The, P~f8Sll~i,~~, ~~!~~n,e~n~11,~n,?,,1~~? ~tf,ft~1i1~~1~t.fW,-,~,1~i, ._· -. . .. , •P~·· r'l•·. ,:'A:;n. rn,n:;,. a night watchman, was ,on. duty, when somebody attacked him and he·· lost consciousness., Thr_~ prosec,uHoo ;~~tt,1;1:,nfSS~~-~~f n~~~,,f~r2 cry_ out when he_ w~s.,bei~g at_t,~,c~~~?,sa,,J~r~~-?~,n ·T!MP~J~~:~~~Li;,, . from the scene.' Th,~ g~ve f,~~s,,,ir~~.., Af:t.e~, S8!1l?m5R~s,i,~_;f,~~18f;d•r distance, one of the men was aP,P,rehended •.. That/was0 the,appellant • ,·i,,_,., .• , .. iu·· There was evidence from three P,rosecutions witnesses,.that, ,whilst \';.:·t"·, 1'lni•.~•.'t~, he was _being c~ased, the ,appepant "!AS thro.wing ~waY,,. Various" itel!IS. ,..,•,~s,• .. "),, .. , , t of ~1Othing, ~911\8ir?f,. w;~ff~ ~~fJrd ljffir~~~.~~d!h;t~,l C. Mr9,; ~~d,3(f · · were. identified as,:being ;~t~.l~'!,,Pr;Qp_e~y~,, TNt ,appe~l.~J'J.t ,hi!ll,~~;t-:it;~:uit~ gave evidence. that,,he .~ad ,bl!ert ~~in~~ng at,,.~ i'.t~.'.t'a.r.n,,a'!~,,.~~ ,w~( · · on his way home when he met the three prosecution witnesses who . _apprehended him. His defence, therefore, was that he was an innocent passerby. ,•!,1\-'fll''i•t:,_,rn-.n,,-: f_:::·11:-::; :·,·~.lt_:ti t,, ♦ 1/.;~ ~L.l .-.)!.,.;~l_,,5 ;.;;.• .. J;·:~ .. :.~t-}'• ,1 1,_.,1; dq11 , .. \..l;>:':!U 1''•.,·,·._. ··: ;,'/ . , . . · l~tt".d, • t,.f,n•.,. \1!,,'.;• ... ,I·•·•- r,t,,,: :•·._; , ,., ~!1'.., .<·~,) -...._, ',,.,J , ; \ '· -~•, ., __ J .• • ., ,< • . . . . ' ' , ; '.•. //'J2 IIn fsupport ' - . J2,) .. In support of his appeal the appellant has put forward a , · .· number of, grounds claimingJthati::the· ·prosecution witnesses no . contradicted themselves;,.that1the timeiatiwhich themight watch man PW.2 said he had•gone on'duty~wasl20,00'hours,",whereasithe prosecution witnesses had referred to the time as being 18.30 · hours, that it was so dark that the prosecution witnesses could' not have ·seen. what 'they. said' they' tiad i seen':'and"'m~sf'tiaveCfost sight of him, and, consequently, this was a case where the .. , prosecution witnesses had made honest mistakes. , . ' ' . . . \:. I; Mr. Phiri, senior state advocate on behalf of the St~te;:: . .. has argued that in fact the conviction .. was. Justified,,that.there .... · is no merit in the arguments put forward .. by ;the appellant and .. that the appeal should be clismissed~:!_ .. _.:.::..'.i.::..,.,::..:'..:! .. \:~:,:.:, :;v·;\i'TY ,•,p u.::F 1;:r".;··· •/{';,., . · · · In ,:.considering the points raised by the appellant inhi~ C .·.· . written arguments on ·appeal we note that the lnconsistenci_es : referred to by him, that is that ;each one of the prosecution.·. . .. •·· witnesses said that they were the one who arrested or appr~h~~ded the appellant, were not in fact contradict1ons.at.aH ••• ~ac~~9f-~ •••. the prosecution witnesses acknowledged thatntwo of. them arrested the appellant while the third onef\Jasi:--present1atf1the time. , With regard to· the arguments that the prosecution witnesses could_ not • have seen the appellant because it was dark, we accept that dar~ness· is a relative matter, and in fact the prosecution witnesses were · believed by the learned trial judge when they said that not. only were they able to· see the appellant throwing •·:away variou_s items of cl?thing whir.h he had stolen, but·a1so;·most;important1y;(0 . . . . V r:-• ,.- ~v· "· · . ,' --;....-.. •,·:: . ~ · : · · ·· . that they did not lose s!ght of t~~rfRReV~r~·,9Uf:i~P:Rr~~,)~~ase. At the trial it was suggested that the.view of'the·prosecution witness must have been obstructE!,d by tall grass .and tl'EM!s./,This . was specifically answered by the prosecution witnesses wh~;ald >, that at that time the grass was low and thet there was only on~ tree on the route taken by the cbase. : As to the question· of. the• .. :\" .: discrepancy in times this would have been material. had it been· · alleged that it was daylight at the time, but, as it ,is, the prosecut~ ion1i' witnesses agreed that it was dark and the discrepancy in times .. ,:kJad no relevance., . ' . , ~ 1 · . • • . . . ' ' , '.,,"l - J 3 '?:u: In. .the whole __ .:of his .judgment we find that there was no misdirection by the learned trial conrnissioner. For the reasons·which we:have--given the appeal against conviction is••·· dismissed. No appeal lies_ against the_Jl!~i'ldatory minimum -senterice: : h ____ ,..,.. ... ,.,_.,,,. " ·, .. ncrtJo:HJ~zrt -... __ ,, . . . J\1irilH/ii1~t•:•-i'\i• 1 · ' · G~r;fo.i,c; a .s., ,•i'ir: a:.-e11p~. ~s-~;;;~i( · · ·.· ::Stb Pctoooi-';:, •1ijea'N, . '•·:' .'-·:,·:,.>>:,~/,. : I . ' i i 1--' ~ ' r·•;) i :·;i-.. . ', ' ' ' . ·- . . ............. ,.,-~,,.,..,-.. , • .-,,_.,,._,,,, .. ~.-.. ,,;-.-,.,, __ ,,...,,......._,.,.,;,,_.~~;,.,_:~~....,....:,~·Ji, .i~ .'i' r '1' ,:, . ;/\\? · •,. I; , • , .. ; _' ' I. ;-,_ -.., C.•.1 , ~- •,, !.t,-_;_. i~ . .... . J ~v ,.,.,,,, . .,,,._,_C••~•-•-•••-~=-••~~~••"'.•;f,J;::.:::r- t;\</ Jt:1,'.~,1~•11!; cf th1< court. . . . . : ::o:;~~if/V\: ., =. •~ I'~{. ;_::·;:., ,.•.·,,,·,,1,:·_; __ 1,." t'\.i_ .. 1,:r, ~"'f"''"f":ri( t•~.,,, ,, .: . · .:• i•c:i ri!J B,!i,T ~h,G1rdner,:,h,•ri t'!lth m:otl'i•t?I;>;: i:C',, 5-~~~~E. COURT. JU~~~.' i; q,i:,r,tlty ·./ ·1·;':-I:h::d .r';,1. v,::itD ... tit. Ynf tH·a ·trrop1rty ·_or ~¼re:-?.~~~l:,::·c:ir,~," -.,. ,.•1~ 'It•.••• • .• • .••• •'•;.,,•.,.• •·• •·• ••l• • •·• • • •·•·":,.~~ • •·•·• • • !' , ,.._..,.,1•·'1"H_f;l•t'·r' v.-..r.-+,~y•~--•· ·,f•'~r• :.:;_:_ .,;',:' ti"t~;{-~ ling did us~f' ,~_ctu'11 vi.ol~ht;,~rt.iJ:,:: .. th~•--'i:~,)~\(~~il.\h;: •?· c1 / ~,tJGh -. _. ,' 1: '. ·-.,_;,; ··, ;:'1: !-!:1:,-:,1,· ,-:;;/ . .'~h'.:t,.''\··< ,,·,c::t ~\"•-~.j n,~~-:-~r. i;h~)S'~ ,!._,:;_:·\ ;91fter~ ?~.f'kii8r~~d~~r~~.~;~:_)/i:<,,::-;•_. ·, .. ·,; ,,:·! cU r. ;AH1cc:, (}:Jn n:" the· m:..;, was il1Pflr'lil11,:ind~(l.-i,. 'l)u1ttw:iisl'ttln, apr:et;1,~~~i/ rn,ir,, ,ms <!Vh1-0nc,1 l'rw~ three vroHicutions-.witn~ises tll!t~-r,wii'.£1$'.t· ,:,: l~r, •,tnc': bolng ct,;;,,~~1,. ti!"! 11r~H~nt;,wa!'l tlr!'~t!.ng Mf,11:,,Jir,!;;i;,";~,t~~~ nf d.:::th!.nri, ;;or.:c! trf 1·,!iid1 ~":lr•~ l'&fi,l'.1•r_,ct :to in tni ci;!l:3'~~ bd:>/'' ' ''·; 11er~, J1i~;1,ti1'l£cd "" bf;lng ~tt!l!:il'l: p-~pGrty. i~ appJHoint, nhr.~~lt•::; :., (Jcl\'1/ i:Vl ,;7..;,ce ·J)Jt; 11tJ h~d-ln:t!l'l <.rinkHig at ll ·,tavattt and,hi.'1 'W&S , .: m1 h ! ,, 1-1t.y l"Ye:Y, ,/10n iY:, met tJ11 ttw-eo pr◊:..$cu-Uon .wttnts::le:. ~1ho ~pprvi:r.·;~(-:·J hi_:'.;, Sl;;, dcif21~-Gt1 ther9f\~t'<i--t, we.~; th~1_t ij~•.:wa~_ . .an ':~ •i "