A Panel of Court of Appeal has described as inordinate delay of justice a conduct by a High Court judge to remain with a case file for seven years without delivering judgment in a murder trial.
“This is a pathetic case of delayed justice,” the panel comprising Justices January Msoffe, Nathalia Kimaro and Ibrahim Juma said, adding: “We trust and hope that a similar situation will not be allowed to happen in another case in future.”
Such strong remarks by the justices is contained in a judgment delivered recently in a murder trial involving three people, Suguta Chacha, Nyangununi Mseti and Wambura Nyamhanga, who were convicted by the High Court, Mwanza Registry and sentenced to death by hanging.
The three appellants had appealed against a decision given by then High Court Judge Juxon Mlay on December 15, 2010, for allegedly being involved in the killing of one Marwa Muhabe in 1989.
But after going through the evidence on record, the justices of the appeals court quashed the findings by the High Court’s judge and set aside the conviction for the trio on the offence of murder.
The justices ordered the immediate release of Suguta Chacha and Nyangununi Mseti, after noting that the duo had no hand in the murder. They also revisited the role played by Wambura Nyamhanga in commission of the offence and concluded that he was responsible of the murder.
However, the justices noted, the death of Marwa Muhabe was a result of a fight between him and Wambura Nyamhanga and, thus, substituted his conviction of murder with that of lesser offence of manslaughter.
“Taking into account the period he has spent in custody (which is 23 years), we sentence him to such term of imprisonment as will result in his immediate release from prison,” the justices concluded.
Court documents show that the information of the offence of murder filed against the three persons and others, who have since died, alleged that the death in issue occurred on November 4, 1989.
On December 8, 1993, the accused persons appeared before the High Court for the first time and a preliminary hearing was conducted on that day.
On April 4, 2001, the prosecution opened its case and the trial proceeded on subsequent dates. On March 27, 2003, the court reserved its judgment. “Surprisingly it was not until seven years later, that is, December 15, 2010 when the judgment was finally delivered,” the justices said.
By FAUSTINE KAPAMA, Tanzania Daily News
