Corpun file 18971

The Guardian, Dar es Salaam, 3 March 2007

Prisoner on the run gets 30 years

By Gabriela John

(extract)

A remand prison escapee has been sentenced in absentia in a Dar es Salaam Court to a 30-year imprisonment term and 24 strokes of the cane after being convicted of armed robbery.

The accused had escaped from prison since 2004 and is still at large to-date, hence the absentia sentence.

The custodial and corporal sentence was yesterday handed down to Mohamed Rashid (38) at Kinondoni District Court by District Magistrate Stahimili Ngawasya.

The imprisonment of the accused brings to two the total number of the accused who have been sentenced for the same offence.

Another co-accused, Fabian Albero (28), was sentenced on November 12, 2004.

However, the trial magistrate entered no conviction to the other three accused whom the court acquitted. Those set free are Yohana Mapagi (24), Elihuruma Minja (33), Tumaini Tesha (26) and AllyAbdallah (23).

The accused, together with five other persons, had been charged with armed robbery since 2004.

In his judgment, the trial magistrate said the Court had found the prosecution's evidence consistently more reliable, weightier and compelling against the weaker and unsupportive defense evidence.

The recovery of a pistol and six bullets at the scene and subsequent proof that the accused were in possession of the same at the material time, was a substantial piece of evidence that broke the camel's last straw [sic].

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