AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Court of Appeal has upheld the life imprisonment sentence imposed by the High Court on drug baron, Jibril Okash Ahmed, for trafficking khats, commonly known as mirungi, which are narcotic drugs, weighing 145.52 kilogrammes.
Justices Shaban Lila, Gerald Ndika and Jacobs Mwambegele ruled against Ahmed, the appellant, after holding that his appeal against findings of the High Court was without merit.
They noted that the appellant did not dispute that seven sacks of mirungi were found in a car he was travelling in. The evidence show that the appellant was arrested in a short chase after disembarking from the motor vehicle, which was later found with the drugs hidden in a boot.
The justices also noted the complaint by the appellant counsel on the discrepancies of witnesses’ testimony on, among others, the weight of the mirungi drugs and colour of the motor vehicle where the narcotic drugs are alleged to have been found.
They pointed out that the record, as rightly observed by counsel for the prosecution, bears out that the learned trial judge appreciated the existence of various contradictions and discrepancies in the prosecution evidence but discounted them as being minor.
“It is now trite law that minor contradictions, inconsistencies and discrepancies by any particular witness or among witnesses do not corrode the credibility of a party’s case while material contradictions and discrepancies do,” the justices said.
There was also a complaint by the appellant that the prosecution evidence had not established that he committed the charged offence beyond doubt.
The justices noted that in his defence, the appellant flatly denied any involvement in the commission of the charged offence.
He associated his arrest and implication in the commission of the offence with his unfortunate presence at the construction company area seeking for a job when the motor vehicle make Noah was stopped and seized by police.
Such defence was duly considered by the trial judge. The justices agreed with his observation that the appellant conceded being arrested at the scene of crime and, on the authority of cited case of Mohamed Haruna, alias Mtupeni, his defence carried further the prosecution case.
His plea that he was arrested after the police failed to arrest the intended person was dismissed by trial judge as he did not explain means of transport he used to reach at that place, kind of job he was looking for and why the police spotted him if there were other people at the place.
“The Court has taken position that where an accused is chased from the scene of crime even in difficult condition such as at night time without losing sight of him and is successfully arrested, that is sufficient evidence that he is responsible with commission of offence,” they said.
Jibril Okash Ahmed, the appellant, and one Paulo Bana, alias Kambo, who was not a party to the appeal, were arraigned before the High Court of Tanzania, Arusha Sub-Registry for the offence of trafficking in narcotic drugs.
It was alleged that on February 26, 2017 at Kona ya Safina-Managa Street within Babati District in Manyara Region, the two were found trafficking mirungi weighing 145.52 kilogrammes in a motor vehicle.
According to a police investigator, on the material date at 11:30 hrs, he was on official duty at the Babati Bus Stand. He was tipped by a certain undisclosed informer that there was a motor vehicle make Noah black in color, which was heading towards Babati carrying mirungi.
In a company of another detective, who was at the wheel of a car, they proceeded to Kilu road where they saw that motor vehicle parked. Upon moving closer to it, that car left. They traced it up to Kona ya Safina area where, a Chinese vehicle for road construction had parked.
The two police officers found that area to be a convenient place to stop that car. They, therefore, overtook and blocked it. One of the police officers signaled the vehicle to stop but it did not. Its attempt to pass over a trench failed.
Instead, the car was switched off, the doors were opened and those in it disembarked and took to their heels. One of the police officers chased them and managed to arrest the appellant. In the meantime, the other police officer who remained behind kept watch of the car.
Such police officers phoned Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigation of District (OCCID) and informed him of the incident. The latter went to the scene with a seizure certificate. Search was conducted in the car and seven sacks suspected to contain mirungi were retrieved in the boot.
