Man gets life imprisonment over incest by male

TANZANIA: THE Court of Appeal has endorsed a 30-year jail term and life imprisonment sentence imposed on a resident of Njombe Region, Hezron Ndone, for incest by a male and carnally knowing his daughter against the order of nature several times.

According to the Tanzania Penal Code, incest by males is defined as when a male has carnal knowledge of a female who is his granddaughter, daughter, sister, or mother.

Justices Rehema Mkuye, Paul Kihwelo and Paul Ngwembe dismissed the appeal that which Ndone, the appellant, had lodged to oppose the findings of the trial Court of Resident Magistrates of Njombe and that of the High Court, the first appellate court.

“We are satisfied that, on the evidence in the record the trial court and the first appellate court were right in finding the appellant guilty as charged. Thus, we find this appeal to be without a semblance of merit and, as a result, we dismiss it in its entirety,” they declared.

During the hearing of the appeal, the appellant complained that the first appellate court erred in dismissing the appeal while the case was based on fabricated evidence.

He submitted that the High Court erred in dismissing the first appeal without considering that the trial court did not consider the defence case and that his conviction was based on the contradictory evidence of some prosecution witnesses.

The appellant contended further that the first appellate court erred to dismiss the appeal while the trial court relied on the evidence of a medical practitioner and the PF3 exhibit, which were irregularly taken and admitted.

He concluded by contending that the prosecution failed to prove the case against him beyond reasonable doubt as the evidence tendered was fabricated by his wife owing to their constant acrimonious bickering.

In their judgment delivered at the Court’s Iringa Sub-Registry recently, the justices began with the appellant’s argument that the case against him was fabricated and that the two courts below did not consider this defence.

They said the argument by the appellant that the case against him was fabricated is, to say the least, farfetched and untenable.

“If at all, the appellant was trying to make such an enduring impression in the urge to save his skin as he was at the knife edge, but all this effort was merely trying to swim against the tide,” the justices of the highest temple of justice in Tanzania, said.

They recalled that the trial court and the first appellate court found out, and properly so in their view, that the appellant’s argument was a mere afterthought because the matter was reported to the police and social welfare by the school teachers and not his wife.

The teachers, the justices noted, reported constant acrimonious bickering with the appellant, victim and the appellant’s children testified against him.

To make matters worse for the appellant, two other prosecution witnesses, who had no grudges testified against him.

They, therefore, found considerable merit in the State Attorney’s submission that, the trial and the first appellate courts adequately considered the appellant’s defence and came to the conclusion that the defence was nothing but a mere trick to escape the course of justice.