africa.lawBeta
SearchAsk AICollectionsJudgesCompareMemo
africa.law

Free access to African legal information. Legislation, case law, and regulatory documents from across the continent.

Resources

  • Legislation
  • Gazettes
  • Jurisdictions

Developers

  • API Documentation
  • Bulk Downloads
  • Data Sources
  • GitHub

Company

  • About
  • Contact
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Jurisdictions

  • All jurisdictions →

© 2026 africa.law by Bhala. Open legal information for Africa.

Aggregating legal information from official government publications and public legal databases across the continent.

Back to search
Case Law[1991] TZHC 2007Tanzania

Karimu Bushiri and Another vs The United Republic (High Court Criminal Appeal No. 167 of 1989) [1991] TZHC 2007 (16 July 1991)

High Court of Tanzania

Judgment

.. RUB.AM.A, J: HIGH COURT CUii.UNJ1L A.r'.P.l!i.AL NG• 167 JF 1989 ORIGINAL CB.IM!NAL CitSE NO '16 OF 1909 CF THE DISTRICT c::::u:1.T OF llkILG:::no n,ISTTIICT AT . .lOTIOGORO BEOR.E: EoJ. NYAM.ASl.NGi1RA RESIDEJ'.T MJ,GISTR.L.TE K.ilRIMU BUSHIRI & iiNCTHER ••.•••••• .APl.,ELLANT (ORIGINAL ACCUSEμ) VEHSUS THE UNITED HEPUBLIC ••••••••••••.••• RBSPONDENT ( OIUGINAL PRR) JUDG.M£HT THABIT RASHID, KIBERENGE SAMSON and KRll,1 BUSHIRI were convicted of burglary and stealing and each sentenced to c,;nurrent te»ms of five yeas imprisonment in respect of th8 burglary charge and one yea imprisoncent in respect of the stealing charge. THAnIT RSHID and KARIM BUSHIRI have appealed to this cout against the_·,onvictions and mposed custodial sentences. .. There i:a sufficient evidence of the faot tho.t the house of Hellen llusimbi (.PW{) v1as on the. night of 6th Janu.;;.r.v-' 19.:..-9 burgled and seve:wal items stolen fromthe house. There is also suffjcient evidence tha eome of these stolen goods were recovered froi;:i vari(-US householde on ilhe day following the burglary i.e. 7th January, 19J9• The rosecution case against THA:i3!T Ill.SHIT is that he had tG.?geilhe, with ELIHUR!ThU Dli.WSCm, a co-accused the.t had. not been convicted, been .identified by .DAi'¼OS L' .... 'l.1ViI (2W2) as the peopli. that had br0ken-.i-.o-hei> roo;n and de..aanded money f'rom him (.PW2) and td:1:;r people in the room. Also from Tli.ABIT RJi.SiIID was recovered on 7th ··-:J.nuary, 1991 recently silolGJl _ items which were positively identified by HEL:,..EN i.i.USHU.l3I (PWI) as h&viJ'.'g-· been amongst her stolen items. These were a siit case whih b0re a bag with her name on it, a bicycle NG.41769 wal:e .:i.u.bassador and a gown whose belt remained in :possession of PWI-. IIe. TiL:i.BIT Ri1.SIIID fu:iriJher led the police to the house of Elihuruilla awson whom he.had stated had .· SOfil6 ·of the st0len items. From this house se·.rer<il recently stolen items from the hose of PWI were recoverd. The proEecution evidence against KARIM BUSHit.I is that from his house were :,:·e-Jovered a day following the burglary some of the things that had been stolen from the burgled houe of FWI. These were one cover of an electric cooker one piee of shoe (having left onB behind which was produced ln court) and one recorded casstte bearing the nafile of PWI. Neither Thabit Rashid n6r Karim Bushir ta•e reasonable explanation as to how thy had co □ e to be in possession of the recently stolen goods.

2 Miss Mu.nisi, learned State ttorney auported the conviction~ entered against the appellants in r,espect of the burglary and stealing oharges and the iuposed custodial sentences. She drew the attention of the court to the very strong .evid£mce against the appellants. I accept the submission as valid. I accept the evidence of PW2 that Thabit Rashid was one of the two burglars that hed entered the room he was·in on the material night and had demanded money ftom him and other-children in the room. I ~ccept the evidence of 2W2 that there was light in the room and tha"t1 Thabit Rashid and his collea8Ue who was surprisingly acquitted by .,,,, the trial oou!:l"t had been in the r.·Olll of .Piv2 for long enough time to facilitate I correct identification of him the unfavourable surrcundings -·i.e. violence and theft notwithstanding. I further accept the evidGnce of identification of PWI that some of her ·stolen items_ had been recovered from the house of Thabi t Rashid,. The ~iscovery ··was made a day followh:g the burglary and the stealing ot the found items. Thabit frashid couli ive no reasonable explanation as. to how he· had come t0 possess these items The convi&tion of the appellant was proper. His appeal is acpordin3ly dismi,ed. Likewise, ' Kari Bushir could offer no reasonable explanation ~s to how he had come ·fo p6ssess so much of recently stolen property so recently stolen from_ PVlI. He could nqt have boaght ju.st a shoe! I see nJ illerit in this appeal which ,! is aoeordingly dismissed. I would in fact have ir:ipcsed· much stiffer .sentences for the committed off-ences - the appellants were eztreraely lucky to have got away with sttch light se·ntences. In totality, the appeals are &isuiiss-::d in their enti vety. Coram - RUD.ilMl ', J Mr. Komba, S.A. for liepublic Appellants absent Judgment delivered. DltR ES SALiUi.J.\1 16th July, 1991". I , ....}. '",:---, -(., .. }---'-_-4.. ~ ~ Y.AHYil. RUB-AM.il. JUDGE 16/7/91 Q,) Yi:LHYA RU1}\MA JUDGE /

Discussion