Legal technicalities save Arusha man from jail
LEGAL technicalities have saved a resident of Arusha, Isumba Huka, from life imprisonment for allegedly raping a minor after the Court of Appeal quashed all the proceedings leading to his conviction of the crime.
Justices Nathalia Kimaro, Bernard Luanda and Batuel Mmilla, noted that the charge sheet was incurably defective for not showing under which category the offence of rape was committed.
“As such the proceedings are a nullity. We declare the proceedings of the District Court and that of the High Court a nullity. The same are quashed and the sentence set aside,” the justices ruled.
The justices, thereafter, ordered the case to be tried afresh before another magistrate for interest of justice since the original trial was defective. “The prosecution should amend the charge sheet as to indicate the provision under which category rape was committed as well as the punishment provision. Ordered accordingly,” they ruled.
It was alleged that on July 1, this year, at Gawindu Village in Hanang District, Manyara Region, the victim of rape left home for grazing calves.
Huka arrived and dragged her to one of the houses and raped her. She raised an alarm where her mother and other villagers responded and went to the house where they found both the young girl and Huka naked.
The court heard that since the mother of the alleged victim of rape was the first to arrive at the scene of the crime she found Huka having sexual intercourse with the young girl. On strength of such evidence, Huka was arrested, charged and subsequently convicted as charged.
His appeal at the High Court was unsuccessful. He decided to take the matter to the Court of Appeal for intervention. Huka advanced two grounds of appeal in that he was not given opportunity to cross examine the young girl who was seven years old at the time she testified in court.
According to him, the charge sheet upon which conviction was grounded was incurably defective in that it does not specify under which category enumerated under Section 130 of the Penal Code the offence was committed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment