Republic Vs Fikiri Jumanne Others (Criminal Session 1 of 2015) 2018 TZHC 126 (30 October 2018)
Republic Vs Fikiri Jumanne Others (Criminal Session 1 of 2015) 2018 TZHC 126 (30 October 2018)
Republic Vs Fikiri Jumanne Others (Criminal Session 1 of 2015) 2018 TZHC 126 (30 October 2018)
OF TANZANIA
IN THE DISTRICT REGISTRY OF BUKOBA
AT BUKOBA
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL SESSIONS CASE NO. N o.l OF 2015
THE REPUBLIC
VERSUS
1. FIKIRI JUMANNE
2. HASSAN GASTON
3. SHUKURU MAHENDEKA
4. DESDERY DOMICIAN
5. MWESIGA MSORORO
JUDGMENT
MALLABA, J.
Page 1 of 21
pleaded not guilty to the charges facing them and hence this case
had to proceed to full trial.
Page 2 of 21
about 7:15pm, she heard an alarm of a person saying “wananiua,
mnisaidie jamani”. She responded to the alarm. When she went to
house of PW1, she saw seven people, that is, Desderi, Fikiri,
Hassan, Shukrani, Mabele, Mwesigwa and Mafina holding Nasri
Elias while Fikiri and Desderi were holding a cooking pot with black
liquid, trying to force PW1 to drink the same. She stated that, they
later on poured the liquid onto his eyes and hands. The witness and
people who assembled after the alarm washed Nasri Elias with
water for purposes of diluting the liquid, soothing the victim and
later on took him to the up-land area where transport facilities
could be available.
Page 3 of 21
said Nasri Elias replied that, it was Fikiri, Shukrani and Mabele
Mahendeka who had injured him. The witness took Nasri Elias to
Muleba Police Station where he was given a PF3 for medical
treatment. Then PW1 was taken to Kagondo Hospital.
At the end of the prosecution case, this court ruled that, the
prosecution established a prima facie case requiring the accused
Page 4 of 21
persons to defend themselves. The defence case commenced
accordingly.
Page 5 of 21
The third accused person, Shukrani Mahendeka, testified as
DW3. He is a peasant of Kigulamo Village in Kimwani Ward within
Muleba District. He testified that, on 11.10.2013 at between
4:00pm to midnight, he was at his home. At 6:00pm, his cattle
came from pasturing. The cattle keeper informed him that, one of
the cows was missing. He started looking for it from neighbours.
They returned home at 10:00pm after managing to get it from their
neighbour’s kraal (zizi). He became aware of the incident of attack
on Nasri Elias on 19.10.2013 when he was arrested by the OCS for
Kyamyorwa Police Post. He denied to have attacked Nasri Elias.
Page 6 of 21
DW5 was Mwesiga Severine Msororo, the 5th accused person.
He is a resident of Lulanda Village, Lulanda Ward in Muleba
District. His preoccupation is fishnets mending. He testified that, on
11.10.2013, he was at Kibingo Hamlet mending nets of one Gerald
Msoke up to 8:00pm. Thereafter, he boarded a motorcycle to Kyota
and slept at the house of one Mikidadi, as he would mend his nets
on the next day. On the next day, as he was mending nets, he
heard that there was an incident of Nasri Elias being attacked by
some liquid being poured on him.
Page 7 of 21
taken to hospital. She did not hear of this incident until her
husband was arrested after one month.
Page 8 of 21
Domician by phone asking if he had arrived but the reply was that,
he was approaching.
(a). . . .
(b) With intent unlawfully to cause the death of
another, does any act or omits to do any act
which it is his duty to do, the act or omission
being of such a nature as to be likely to
endanger human life,
Commits an offence . . . ”
Page 9 of 21
In the present matter, where the accused persons are charged
with the offence of attempted murder c/s 211(b) of the Penal Code,
it is the prosecution side which has the duty to prove beyond
reasonable doubt; two ingredients of the offence, that is: one, that
with intent to unlawfully cause the death of another, a person did
an act of such a nature as is likely to endanger human life; and
two, that it is the accused person who did that act.
Page 10 of 21
what was poured onto PW1 was acid. As a result, this court is
hesitant to conclude that what was poured onto PW1 was acid. If
acid had been established to have been poured onto PW1, this court
would not have hesitated to come to a finding that, indeed there
were intention to murder PW1. As already indicated, there is no
such proof.
Page 11 of 21
According to PW5 and also according to the PF3, PW1 appears to
have previously been charged with the offence of assault causing
bodily harm. In the view of this court, in the circumstances, that
would be the befitting charge in the present matter even now. Thus,
this court finds that, in the present matter the evidence does not
establish that the accused persons deserved to be charged with the
offence of attempted murder. Rather, if any, it is the offence of
assault causing bodily harm which deserved to face them.
Page 12 of 21
analysis of all surrounding circumstances o f the
crime being tried. . . ”
Page 13 of 21
Appeal exemplified on how the Case of Waziri Amani (supra)
should be applied. It stated that:
Page 14 of 21
was cited by the learned State Attorney in her final submissions,
where it was stated:
Page 15 of 21
• In the court o f such observation o f the assailant by
the witness was there any obstruction experienced
by the witness”.
This court will consider the issue of identification of the
accused persons on the basis of the position of the law as amplified
in cases from Waziri Amani V R (supra), Mathew Stephan @
Laurent V R (supra), Emmanuel Luka and 2 othes V R (supra)
and ultimately Mussa Mbwanga V R (supra).
In all those cases, the first thing to consider in clearing every
possibility of mistaken identity, is the kind of light that existed at
the scene and its intensity. On this, in the present matter, in the
first place, there is a contradiction or inconsistence as regards the
source of light. PW 1 testified in court that, the source of light was
moonlight. On the other hand, PW2 testified that, at the time, it had
not become so dark. In other words, she claimed to have identified
the perpetuators because of daylight. Yet, in the statement that
PW1 gave to the police, he stated that it was dark and identified the
perpetuators by a torch. This is also what came from the evidence
of PW5.
The position of the law as regards contradictions and
inconsistencies in evidence is that, material discrepancies or
contradictions affect the credibility of the respective witnesses. If
the contradiction and discrepancy is material, then the respective
evidence need to be jettisoned or disregarded. However, if the
contradiction and contradictions or discrepancies are not vital or
material, then they don’t affect the credibility of the witnesses or the
Page 16 of 21
evidence itself. In the view of this court, where the only evidence
that connects the accused persons to commission of the offence is
that of visual identification or even of recognition, and the
contraction or discrepancy is in regard to the source of light that
enabled such identification or recognition, that is a major
contradiction or discrepancy. This is because the same shakes the
basic version of the prosecution story. For witnesses who observed
the same incident, it is incomprehensible that one could remember
observing the incident through moonlight, the other by daylight and
the other by torch. Such a discrepancy or contradiction may only be
consistent with tutored testimony. Although this court is not
inclined to make a finding that the witnesses in this matter were
tutored, such discrepancies and contradictions create a very
serious doubt on the credibility of the witnesses involved. Such
discrepancies and contradictions do not eliminate all possibilities of
mistake in identification.
The other problem flows from the first one. None of the
witnesses described the level of brightness of whatever source of
light each mentioned. If the identification was by moonlight, it was
not described as to how bright was the moonlight. If it was by
daylight, it was not described how was bright the daylight at the
time of the day, specifically, at 7:15pm; and if it was by torch, it
was not descried as to how bright it was. Without being clear on the
brightness of the source of light, it is difficult to eliminate the
possibilities of mistaken identification or recognition.
Page 17 of 21
The above deficiencies are farther complicated by the fact that,
witnesses and more so PW1, were not consistent with how many
persons he identified at the scene. This is because, in his testimony,
he mentioned six persons. However, when he met PW4, immediately
after the incident, he mentioned only three persons, that is Fikiri,
Shukurani and “mtoto wa Mahendeka” . PW1 also mentioned a
different number of people to the police, that is to PW5. He
mentioned three names of Shukurani Mahendeka, Mabele
Mahendeka and Fikiri. In his statement and mentioned a much
longer list in his additional statement to the police which he gave a
week later.
In this regard, it was stated in the case of Misofi Ndebile V. R,
Criminal Appeal No. 75 of 2013 (CAT-Mwanza) (unreported), that:-
Page 18 of 21
there were six perpetuators, PW2 stated there were seven. On the
roles played by the perpetuators, PW1 stated that Fikiri held him by
the back and Domician poured the liquid. On the other hand, PW2
stated that, Fikiri was the one holding the cooking pot. Also,
whereas PW 1 stated that the perpetuators immediately held him by
the back and poured the liquid on him, PW2 stated that, the
perpetuators started by trying to force PW1 to drink the liquid
before pouring it on the face and eye.
As regards the difference in numbers of the perpetuators, this
court is of the considered view that, that is not a major discrepancy.
The same can innocently happen and thus, in itself, it may not
affect the evidence of both PW1 and PW2.
However, as regards PW1 and PW2 differing in their account of
the roles played by the perpetuators, that one is a vital discrepancy.
When witnesses observe the same incident, it is normal for a person
to forget what role was played by who and to testify accordingly.
However, if two witnesses go on to specifically state what role was
played by each, any contradiction or discrepancy in that is a
serious and major discrepancy or contradiction and it affects the
credibility of both witnesses. This court is of considered view that,
the credibility of PW1 and PW2 is affected by such contradictions or
discrepancies.
All this put together, it makes the prosecution evidence of
visual identification and recognition of the accused persons highly
doubtful such that it cannot be the basis of conviction of the
accused persons. Through such evidence, the prosecution has
Page 19 of 21
failed to eliminate all the possibilities of a mistaken identification or
recognition.
The 1st and 3rd assessors, who were the only ones who
attended at the stage of the summing up to assessors, were of the
opinion that, the accused persons are not guilty of the charges they
Page 20 of 21
are facing. The prosecution had failed to prove their guilty. This
court agrees with the two assessors.
In the final analysis, this court finds that, the prosecution has
failed to prove the case against the accused persons beyond
reasonable doubts. This court agrees with the two assessors in this
regard. As such, the accused persons are hereby found not guilty of
the charges against them, and they are accordingly acquitted of the
charge of attempted murder c/s 211 (b) of the Penal Code, for which
they stood charged.
Page 21 of 21