Republic vs Rajabu Saijehe (Criminal Sessions Case No. 185 of 1972) [1973] TZHC 166 (7 April 1973)

14 - IP THE LIC:-H COUHT Ci TANZANIA .iT SI.JCIDA ORICI1L JUISiJICTION •(DoDoML. REGISTRY) CRIHINAI SESSIONS CASE 110. 135 02 1972 TIE; REPUB 110 VEE STJS RA JABIJ SAI:E1J.E - rge: Murder c/s 196 of the pe0&!eIJL 1973 JUDGEMENT The accused in this case has been charged with the murder of his wife on t as 22nd clay of Fe bruary 1972. iTis lea has been that although he killed his wife 1 he did not mean to do so. He simply wanted to chastise her for n e -,- 1 e c t inr-r to guard their crops against vermin. There w w ere two eye-itnesses to the incident, na mely, F.H.3 Nwanaidi Juma and F,W7 I 1 anjuu Duu a child. of tender age. According to their evidence, the accused returned hom.e and found his wife there. He then told her that the crops had been ravaged by baboons. The deceased saicl..she had gone to collect firewood. All this tine the deceased. was° g@ in the household. .. chores. She was grinding millet. The.accused then pulled her oudf the house and started beating her. lIe was unarmed. .Accor- iing to Muanaidi the accused punched and kicked her all over her body. The child VJan3uu said however that the accused sla?ped his wife all over the body. This contradiction in their evidence 10 in aterral since the accused hir self adius hilling his wife The only ciuestion seems to be whether in killing his wife the accused was legally provoked. Doth the eye-witnesses are agreed that the accused then picked up a stick, held the legs of his wife apart and thrust it in her vagina. Mwanaidi s&id, and the accused did not controvert her, that when the accused was punching and kicking his wife 6he tried to intervene in order to earate then. The accused chased her, threw a stick at her and nissed her. I:Ie then returned to his wife and started irobing p her rivate parts with the stick. This was, as one gentleman assessor put it, a unique form, of puniobment to administer to an erring wife, PEe poor woman never survived the ordeal. The doctor who examined her body found her vagina, uti'us and urinary bladder perforated. Her lower jaw was also fratured. This injury confirms the evidence of the eye-. witnesses that the beating administereC, to the deceased was - sustained and brutal. The deceased must have met her death durinA: or soon after the ordeal. That would explain why the same ni'ht the accused ordered 1 fanjuu to accompany him in the forest to hide the body in the burrow of an ant-eater. It would also explain his simulated ignorance for the whereabouts of the deceased whom.. he rej)Orted missing and set out to search the next day.

• 15 -but not before dispatching the child Wanjuu from hone in order to prevent lain from letting the cat out of the bag. All the gentlemen assessors shared the view that the treatment the accused meted to his site was so sustained and brutal that it could only be deliberate. I find myself constrained to defer to and accert their unanimous verdict. I av satisfied as I so hold, that the accused in attacking his wife so brutally foresaw or could have reasonably foreseen that shw would die or at least sustain grievous harmi The thrust on her womb with a spike has a tinge of masoechism. Like all assessors I am not satisfied that the error was so serious as to warrant her to he punished in this unicluely callous manner. The unarmed assault which the accused dealt her before chasing Nwanaidi was, in r.iy opinion, sufficient chastisenant. The accused had time to cool when his attention was diverted from the deceased by Hwanaidi. He could not have resened his masoschistic brutality on the deceased when his temper and passion was still high, ii or it had time to cool when he chased Hwanaicii, threw a stick and missed her 4e'. He could not have reswmed punishing the deceased when he was still angry. The ordeal lasted so long. inspite of the deceased's wails that only a determined killer would have failed to pause and reflect on what he was doing. I am thus left in no doubt that the accused killed his wife deliberately because when he was thrusting a wooden spike into her vagina he must have known that death or griveous harm would result. Accordingly I fine, him guilty as charged arid convict him of murder 4 • N. H. A. -J.;JIKINA AG. UDC-E. Read and delivered in open court at ingida this 7th day of April 1

Record The accused has one relevant previthus convection. Accused It is true. I was convicted of assault. Nitigation The accused chast isod his wife unlqqd The accused must also be unique .. In the report to the President, the convict should be taken in the light. The accused's unJi.eard of conduct should not he lost sight of. Allocutus: I was born just after the 2nd war, I have relatives at hisunghaa. Both my parents are dead. Only my brother and my son who is alive • The deceased was my 2nd wife. At hone I am only a farmer. I have no other occiw:)ation. Sentence: The accused has been convicted with murder for which aee'T only one mandatory sentence - death by hanging. The court has no option but to sentence him accordingly. He still has a chance to win his appeal or to secure a reprieve May Ood help him. • k •. ,.,L, I". H. A. ICJIXIM/, kGOJUDC1rE /16