Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Court of Appeal has sentenced rapist residing in Dar es Salaam, Goodluck Aloyce, to life imprisonment for engaging in a sexual act against the order of nature with his sister-in-law aged below 11 years.
Justices Shaban Lila, Ignas Kitusi and Lucia Kairo ruled against Aloyce, the appellant, after dismissing his appeal he had lodged against the decision of the High Court, which had confirmed his conviction on both two counts of rape and unnatural offence.
They reversed the 30-year imprisonment sentence imposed on the appellant by the High Court on the count of unnatural offence after noting that it was against the law, but sustained the same sentence passed against him for rape. However, the justices ordered the sentences to run co-currently.
“We thus, invoke our revisional powers under section 4 (2) of the Appellant Jurisdiction Act, and substitute the sentence of 30 years imprisonment for unnatural offence, with life imprisonment,” the justices said.
They referred to Section 185 of the Law of the Child Act No. 21 of 2009 amended Section 154 of the Penal code and pointed out that after the said amendment, since the victim was below the age of 18 years, the sentence was enhanced to life imprisonment.
The justices noted in this case the victim was not more than 11 years, according to herself and other witnesses. According to the justices, the appropriate sentence to the appellant ought to have been life imprisonment for the offence of unnatural offence.
During hearing of the appeal, the appellant had faulted the High Court for sustaining his conviction in a case that was not proved against him and in which the defence case was not considered. He criticized the prosecution’s failure to lead evidence of visual identification and evidence of his description.
In their judgment, the justices pointed out that the issue of visual identification and description of the culprit in this case was totally a misconception, as the evidence of the victim, which the appellant never challenged, indicated that he was sharing a bed with her.
“What evidence of visual identification and description would there be in such a situation? So, all this is irrelevant, in our view,” they said. As regarding the alleged failure by the two courts below to consider the defence, the justices agreed that there was no indication of such consideration.
Having so noted, they decided to step into the shoes of the High Court and consider the defence of the appellant, who alleged that the case had been fabricated by his concubine because she might have had an eye on his assets,
In their determination of the matter, the justices were satisfied that such line of defence was an afterthought because the appellant never raised it when he had the opportunity to cross – examine his concubine and it renders the story very hollow.
“It is therefore our conclusion, that the defence case did not topple the case for the prosecution, built on the evidence of (three witnesses, including the victim, owner of the house and a medical doctor), they said.
The prosecution led evidence to establish that the appellant was cohabiting with one woman, with whom he had a child. The victim who happened to be the woman’s younger sister was also staying with them in the rented room and apparently were all sharing one bed.
That woman, who worked at a bar for a living, would normally return home late at night. These night duties by the woman allegedly provided the appellant with time to indulge in escapades with the victim, who testified that he would have both vaginal and anal sex with her.
The victim had never disclosed the ordeal to her sister for fear of the appellant who had threatened her life. It took another person to take the cat out of the bag, so to speak. That person was the owner of the house in which the appellant and woman lived, and he also lived in the same house.
On May 23, 2015 that person noticed that the victim was having difficulty in walking, so he probed her, in the course of which she disclosed the fact that her in-law, the appellant, was having sex with her during the woman’s absence. The matter was reported to the police, leading to arrest of the appellant.
For More News And Analysis About Tanzania Follow Africa-Press
