Lindi resident gets death sentence for killing wife

LINDI: THE High Court in Mtwara has sentenced Harubu Njimbwi, alias Kanavaro, to death by hanging for killing his wife, Maliselina Mkingie, after suspecting him of giving birth to a child outside the wedlock when he came out of prison.

Judge Edwin Kakolaki imposed the capital punishment against Njimbwi, the accused person, after convicting him of murder.

“He ruled that the prosecution proved the offence beyond reasonable doubt, based on evidence from seven witnesses.

‘I find that the prosecution has proved its charge beyond a reasonable doubt; hence, the accused person is guilty of the offence. I therefore proceed to convict him of the offence of murder…

‘The law is settled that, once the accused person is convicted of murder, the only sentence is death by hanging. I hereby sentence Harubu Sijaunga Njimbwi, alias Kanavaro to suffer death by hanging,’ the judge declared in a judgement delivered recently.

Before the conviction, the court established three key elements of murder: whether the deceased had died unnaturally, whether the accused was responsible for the death, and whether the killing was driven by malice aforethought.

In the judgment, the judge ruled that the prosecution, through the evidence tendered, proved all the ingredients, including the finding that Maliselina Mkingie, who was second wife to the accused person, was dead and that she died an unnatural death.

On whether the accused person was responsible for her death, the Court was satisfied that, the accused person was responsible for the murder of the deceased, who was his wife, hence the second element was proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt.

In his extra-judicial statement, he took before the justice of peace, the accused person narrated how he executed the deceased person using his home-made gun and the motive behind such killing.

Regarding the final element of malice aforethought, the court concluded that the accused killed his wife with intent, citing his decision to shoot her in the left side of the chest, a particularly vulnerable and sensitive area of the body.

It was stated in court that on September 8, 2023, at Nandete Village in Kilwa District, Lindi Region, the accused person murdered his wife identified as Maliselina Mkingie.

On the night of that day, while asleep in her house with her children, the deceased was attacked and shot dead with a sharp and heavy object that penetrated the left side of her chest, leading to excessive bleeding.

The information reached the village leaders, who suspected the accused person to be responsible for her death, detained and handed him to the trained people’s militia and his colleague, who transferred him to Somanga Police Station for his safe custody.

The deceased’s body, which had a big deep wound on the left side of the chest, was examined by doctor, who also retrieved a piece of plastic material from the wound.

Having met and interrogated the accused person on the same day, he allegedly admitted committing an offence with his gun, which he had hidden at his first wife’s compound.

The next day, (September 9, 2023), the investigation team visited the scene of the crime in the accused person’s company.

During a search conducted at the residence of his first wife, a homemade firearm (locally known as a ‘gobore’), along with one live bullet and a spent shell casing, were discovered buried at the rear of the property near the bathroom area. A certificate of seizure was duly prepared.

When the information of murder was placed before the accused person, he flatly denied the accusations, contending in his defence that on the fateful night, he had slept with his elder wife when he was awakened by the children’s cry coming from the deceased’s house.

The accused person said to have responded to the area and found his second wife killed. He deposed to have reported the matter to his close relatives, who reported to the village and suburb chairmen, who in turn responded to the crime scene and put him under arrest.