DAR ES SALAAM: THE Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court has acquitted a resident of Dar es Salaam, Bogious Augustine and two co-accused.
Mr Augustine and the two others were accused of armed robbery, intoxicating a person and illegal possession of property.
The two other accused persons, namely Ally Kibuga and Abdallah Mmangi, were linked with only one charge of unlawful possession of property (an iPhone 11 Pro Max).
The judgement was given recently by Principal Resident Magistrate Ferdinadri Kiwonde after the prosecution side failed to prove the allegations against the accused beyond reasonable doubt, as required by law.
“The responsibility of proving the charges before the court lies on the prosecution side which has failed to do so. Therefore, this Court acquits all the accused persons in this case,” Magistrate Kiwonde declared.
Reading the judgment, Magistrate Kiwonde said that the evidence presented by the prosecution had many doubts and that all the nine witnesses of the Republic and five exhibits (including the warning statements of the accused and the Tanzania Police Medical Examination form, popularly known as PF3, among other exhibits), could not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
He claimed that among the evidences used by the prosecution to dispel doubt was the first defendant’s admission of guilt.
However, he said for that admission to be valid, it needed to be backed up by evidence of the other defendant’s guilt, which was not done in the respective particular case.
“According to evidence, defendant number three (Abdallah Mmangi) confessed to the police, but the details of the confession were not brought before court,” he explained.
According to him, the victim in the case stated that she went to Magomeni hospital for treatment after receiving the PF3, but when the document was presented in court, it revealed that the victim actually sought treatment at Kinyerezi Clinic.
Magistrate Kiwonde further revealed that the victim was merely mentioned as having been robbed of her mobile phone and money but also failed to prove the claims.
According to the prosecution, it was alleged that on January 11, last year, while at the Denfrance Gotel at Sinza, Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam, the accused, Bogias Augustine, intentionally and fraudulently stole an audio device, a smartphone (the iPhone 11 Pro Max) worth over 2.2m/- and cash amounting to 200,000/- all belonging to Ms Hunaina Salehe, and threatened her with a knife so that she could not pose any resistance.
On a similar date and location, it was alleged that the accused drugged the victim so that he could easily accomplish his evil mission.
The court also heard that in the third count, which was facing only two accused (Kabuga and Mmangi), it was stated that on diverse dates in January last year in Dar es Salaam, they obtained and used a stolen mobile phone, knowing that the device a product obtained through a criminal offence.
Source : Daily News
