THE Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) yesterday dropped the two criminal charges of assault against former Deputy Finance Minister Adam Malima and his driver Ramadhani Kigwande, which were pending before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam.
Principal Resident Magistrate Respicius
Mwijage, who was conducting the trial, set free the duo immediately
after receiving a “nolle prosequi” certificate issued by the DPP.
The DPP’s decision comes few days after
Malima’s appointment as new Regional Commissioner (RC) for Mara. Senior
State Attorney Mutalemwa Kishenyi presented the certificate in question
on behalf of the DPP, citing section 91(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act
(CPA), stating that the Republic would no longer prosecute the duo on
the of fences they were charged with.
It was not an easy task for the court to
allow the prosecution to drop the charges. Initially, the trial
attorney had informed the court that the prosecution had summoned a
witness to testify in the yesterday’s session.
But, the process was pre-empted by the
decision of the DPP. Magistrate Mwijage called upon the prosecution to
assign reasons as to why they were withdrawing the charges against the
accused at such stage.
The trial attorney, however, rushed to
read the provision under which the DPP had relied upon to issue the
certificate in question. He disclosed that under the cited provision,
the DPP was not obliged to state any reason for his decision.
Section 91 (1) reads that in any
criminal case and at any stage thereof before verdict or judgment, as
the case may be, the Director of Public Prosecutions may enter a nolle
prosequi.
It may be either by stating in court or
by informing the court concerned in writing on behalf of the Republic
that the proceedings shall not continue; and thereupon the accused shall
at once be discharged in respect of the charge for which the nolle
prosequi is entered.
According to the provision, if the
accused has been committed to prison shall be released, or if on bail
his recognizance shall be discharged; but such discharge of an accused
shall not operate as a bar to any subsequent proceedings against him on
account of the same facts.
Therefore, the Magistrate granted the
prosecution’s request and discharged the accused accordingly. He,
however, warned them that as far as the provision cited was concerned,
the prosecution could re-arrest and charge them with same offences
containing same facts.
Nolle prosequi is a legal term and Latin
phrase, meaning “be unwilling to pursue”, a phrase amounting to “do not
prosecute”. It is used in many common law criminal prosecution contexts
to describe a prosecutor’s decision to voluntarily discontinue criminal
charges either before trial or verdict is given.
It was alleged during the trial that on
May 15, 2017 at Masaki area, Kinondoni District in the City, with intent
to resist apprehension, Kigwande assaulted Mwita Joseph, an Operation
Officer of Priscane Business Enterprises.
The prosecution had told the court that
Joseph was apprehending the said accused for wrongful parking; he was
then driving a vehicle with Registration No T587 DDL, thereby causing
bodily harm to the said officer.
According to the prosecution, on the
same time and place, willfully, Malima, who was also the former Member
of Parlia ment (MP) for Mkuranga Constituency, obstructed a police
officer, Constable Abdu Sasi from executing his lawful duties, notably
apprehending Kigwande for allegedly assaulting Joseph.
It was reported that during the
incidence some law enforcers fired some rounds in the air when
confronted by Mr Malima in a misunderstanding between officer of
Priscane Business Enterprises and his driver over wrong parking.
The police were quoted as saying that
the situation at the scene forced the officers to do so in order to
restore peace, because a number of people had already started flocking
the place thus causing more havoc.
According to the police, the driver of
the former deputy finance minister in the government of fourth phase
administration had parked the car at a wrong location, and assaulted the
officer of Priscane Business Enterprises who asked him to remove the
vehicle
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