Businessman Makongoro Joseph Nyerere accused the prosecution of framing him up in the murder of fellow businessman, Onesphory Kituly in 2011, after refusing to bribe them 8m/-.
Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court
He told Senior Resident Magistrate Hellen Riwa at the Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court in Dar es Salaam that it was why the prosecution had failed to complete investigation into the matter since his arraignment early this year.
“The prosecutors pretend to be learned persons, but what they are doing is hopeless. We are in prison suffering for nothing. They (prosecution) keep giving contradictory statements whenever this case comes up for mention before you,” he alleged.
Nyerere, who is charged alongside prominent businessman, Marijani Abubakar, alias Papaa Msofe, was joined in the murder charge on February 13, this year.
Since then, he alleged, the prosecution had failed to complete investigation into the matter. He was responding to a report given yesterday by the prosecutor, State Attorney Ruth Dinyantika, who informed the magistrate that investigators were still collecting evidence pertaining to the case.
It is alleged that the ‘murder’ that occurred on November 6, 2011, at Magomeni Mapipa in Kinondoni District in the city, was a result of a long-standing land dispute involving a house which the deceased had been at loggerheads with some people since 2007.
But Nyerere questioned the rationale behind his being joined in the matter, as he had been instructed by the court as a court broker to evict the deceased in the house since 2006, but was surprised to have been linked with the murder which occurred in 2011.
“When the Deputy Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Anjela Kairuki, visited prisons recently I briefed her on the matter and she promised to act on the matter. The prosecution has been saying that they want to join one Alex Masawe in the case.
Where is he now?” he queried. Nyerere requested the court to inquire more information and possibly scrutinise the prosecution’s file, alleging it would be shocked to find out that he was before the court simply because he refused to give the prosecution money they demanded as a precondition for being spared of the murder charge.
For her part, Magistrate Riwa said she would deliver her ruling on October 31, this year, on the defence’s prayer to have the case thrown out.
By FAUSTINE KAPAMA, Tanzania Daily News
