IN
THE COURT OF APPEAL OF TANZANIA AT
ARUSHA
(CORAM:
LUBUVA, J.A., NSEKELA, 3.A. And KAJI,JA.A.)
CRIMINAL
APPEAL NO. 103 OF 2005
KHALID
ATHUMANI APPELLANT
VERSUS
THE
REPUBLIC RESPONDENT
(Appeal
from the Conviction of the High Court of Tanzania at Arusha)
(Msoffe,
J.)
dated
the 11th
day of 3uly, 2003
in
Criminal
Appeal No. 48 of 2002
REASONS
FOR JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
NSEKELA,
J.A.:
When
the appeal was called on for hearing, we dismissed the appeal in its
entirety and reserved our reasons for so doing which we hereby
proceed to give.
The
appellant, Khalid s/o Athuman was charged with the offence of rape
contrary to sections 130 and 131 of the Penal Code as amended by the
Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act No. 4 of 1998. He was
convicted on his own plea of guilty and sentenced to the statutory
term of imprisonment of thirty (30) years with twelve (12) strokes
corporal punishment. His appeal to the High Court (Msoffe, J. as he
then was) was dismissed hence this appeal.
The
appellant preferred a four-ground memorandum of appeal. The thrust of
the appeal, in our view, was whether or not it was open to the
appellant to appeal against his own plea of guilty to the charge
during the trial. At the hearing of the appeal, the appellant, who
appeared in person and unrepresented, did not have anything more to
add apart from his rambling memorandum of appeal. For the respondent
Republic, Mr. Kagaigai, learned Senior State Attorney, resisted the
appeal. He briefly submitted that under section 360(1) of the
Criminal Procedure, Act, 1985 (CPA) no appeal lies where an accused
person has been convicted on his own plea of guilty save as regards
the legality of sentence meted out to him. He added that the
appellant knew the nature of the offence, did not deny it and that
the particulars of the case as presented by the prosecution were very
clear.
At
this
juncture,
we
think
it
is
desirable
to
reproduce
the
appellant's
plea
in
the
trial
court.
His
plea
was
recorded
in
the
following
words
-
"I
admit
the
charge
that
it
is
true
that
I
raped
the
complainant
Rabia
d/o Maulid without
her
consent."
The
public
prosecutor
then