BY KUSEKWA KUSEKWA
The High Court at Arusha has saved a driver, Mohamed Musa Salim, alias Mudy, from serving 30 years in prison for robbing an Arusha resident, James Elia Hotay, a mobile phone of TECNO POP 2 make in 2024.
Judge Frank Mahimbali ruled in favour of Mudy, after allowing his appeal that challenged the findings of the District Court of Arusha, which had convicted him of armed robbery.
“I find this appeal merited and I allow it. The appellant’s conviction and sentence meted out are hereby quashed and set aside. Consequently, I order his immediate release from custody unless otherwise held for some other lawful cause,” the judge declared in a judgement delivered recently.
During the hearing of the appeal, the appellant had submitted that the identification evidence produced to ground his conviction was weak and unsafe and that there were contradictions between prosecution witnesses regarding the time of the incident.
The appellant submitted further that the trial court failed to properly evaluate the defence evidence, which raised reasonable doubt and that generally, the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
In his judgement, the judge noted that the prosecution’s case hinged on visual identification of the appellant as the perpetrator of the charged offence and to be found in possession of robbed property.
He concluded that the trial court failed to apply the caution required for night-time identification, the risk of mistaken identity was not eliminated and identification was not watertight. Therefore, it was unsafe to rely on such evidence to ground a conviction.
It was alleged that on November 10, 2024 at Daraja Mbili in Arusha, the accused robbed Hotay of a TECNO POP 2 phone (black with green cover) and Sh. 17,000 in cash and stabbed him in the arm with a knife.
