By Kusekwa Kusekwa
The High Court in Arusha has sentenced two people, Omary Minara and Mohamed Ally, to death by hanging for killing a motorcyclist, commonly known as bodaboda, Meijo Komolo and disappearing with his bike at Oltepes village in Longido District, last year.
Judge Dafina Ndumbaro imposed the maximum penalty for the crime after convicting the duo of murder, “Having made such a finding, it is my view and conclusive finding that, the accused persons are guilty of the offence they stand charged. Having so found them guilty, I hereby proceed to convict them of the unlawful murder of Meijo Komolo,” the judge declared in a judgment delivered recently. She pointed out that in a murder case, once it is proven that the accused caused the death of another person with malice aforethought and was subsequently convicted, Section 197 of the Penal Code, Cap. 16 R.E. 2023, mandates only one type of punishment.
That punishment, the judge said, is the death penalty and it must be imposed without any legally recognised exceptions or justifications. “I hereby sentence the accused persons to suffer death by hanging as provided under section 197 of the Penal Code,” she declared.
The judge took into consideration the testimony of 10 prosecution witnesses and 10 exhibits as well as caution statements of the accused persons, which are so corroborative to each other and elaborative on how the incident occurred.
In the statements, Minara admitted to have killed the deceased using a knife, while Ally stated that Minara came while covered with blood and upon enquiry, he told him that he had already killed Komolo.
The judge noted further that the accused persons’ confessions led to the discovery of the murder weapons together with belongings of the deceased.
