HIGH Court of Tanzania, Sumbawanga Zone, yesterday condemned six people each to 20 years behind bars over conspiracy to murder and attempt to kill an albino.
The six convicts were charged with
chopping the left hand of 12-year old Mwigulu Matonange, and running
away with it before some were later caught red handed scouting for a
prospective buyer.
The case judgment attracted hundreds of
Sumbawanga Town residents, with Rukwa Regional Commissioner (RC) Zelothe
Steven among them.
The RC was in the courtroom to hear the
judgment from the beginning to the end. The court also set free four
accused for lack of sufficient evidences. Delivering the ruling, the
trial Judge, Dr Adam Mambi, said the six accused were found guilty of
the two counts of conspiring to murder and attempting to kill the minor
albino.
The convicts were Weda Mashilimu ‘Baba
Siha,’ Ignas Sungura, James Paschal, Nickson Ngalimia, Ibrahim Tela and
Faraja Jailos ‘Mwezi mpya.’ The four freed suspects were Kulwa
Mashilimu, Peter Said ‘Simon Msalaba,’ Hamis Rashid and James Ngalamio.
Justice Mambi said, “For the first count
of conspiring to murder, the six convicts will serve 14 years in jail
and for the second count of attempting to kill, the maximum sentence is
life imprisonment.
But, after taking into consideration
several issues, including mitigations of the accused, type of the crime
and the fact that all the six had no previous crime records, each of
them will serve 20 years in jail as the sentence goes concurrently.”
It was initially claimed before the
court that the accused committed the crime on February 15, 2013 at Msia
village along Lake Rukwa Basin in Sumbawanga district. Prosecuting,
State Attorney Fadhili Mwandolo summoned 12 witnesses to substantiate
the case, with the victim’s mother being one of the witnesses.
The victim currently lives in United
States of America. The defence side that had four advocates -- Baltazar
Chambi, Charles Kasuku, Peter Kamyalile and Mathia Budodi, summoned ten
witnesses.
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