Court of Appeal of Tanzania

This is the highest level in the justice delivery system in Tanzania. The Court of Appeal draws its mandate from Article 117(1) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Court hears appeals on both point of law and facts for cases originating from the High Court of Tanzania and Magistrates with extended jurisdiction in exercise of their original jurisdiction or appellate and revisional jurisdiction over matters originating in the District Land and Housing Tribunals, District Courts and Courts of Resident Magistrate. The Court also hears similar appeals from quasi judicial bodies of status equivalent to that of the High Court. It further hears appeals on point of law against the decision of the High Court in matters originating from Primary Courts. The Court of Appeal also exercises jurisdiction on appeals originating from the High Court of Zanzibar except for constitutional issues arising from the interpretation of the Constitution of Zanzibar and matters arising from the Kadhi Court.

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26 Kivukoni Road Building P.O. Box 9004, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

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https://jmap.judiciary.go.tz/jmap/jmap-coa

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10 judgments

Citation	Judgment date
December 1987
Ali Mohamed Bakari vs S. M. Z. (Criminal Appeal No. 106 of 1987) [1987] TZCA 133 (30 December 1987) Electrifying a garden to deter theft that causes death amounts to manslaughter; conviction and 10‑year sentence upheld. Criminal law – manslaughter versus murder; liability for death caused by deliberate electrified trap; inference of knowledge from location of connection; credibility of third‑party blame; sentence proportionality.	30 December 1987
Khatibu Sheha Khamis vs S. M. Z. (Criminal Appeal No. 99 of 1987) [1987] TZCA 130 (30 December 1987) Appeal allowed: court found self-defence and provocation justified, quashing the manslaughter conviction and sentence. * Criminal law – Manslaughter – Sufficiency of evidence to sustain conviction. * Criminal law – Self-defence – Availability where accused acted fearing for life and household safety. * Criminal law – Provocation – Effect in reducing or negating criminal liability. * Appeal – Quashing conviction where trial judge wrongly excluded available defences.	30 December 1987
Shabani Ramadhani Chamrungu vs S. M. Z. (Criminal Appeal No. 100 of 1987) [1987] TZCA 132 (30 December 1987) A guilty plea is ineffective where a defective charge omits unlawfulness and the court fails to explain essential ingredients. * Criminal law – Manslaughter (death while driving) – essential ingredient is unlawful act or omission (culpable negligence). * Guilty plea – must be informed; court must explain essential ingredients and record plea in accused's own words. * Procedure – Adan v R followed: if accused disputes material facts, change plea to not guilty and hold trial. * Defective information – omission of unlawfulness renders plea ineffective; conviction unsafe; retrial ordered.	30 December 1987
Khamis Taib Abdulrahman and Another vs S. M. Z, (Criminal Appeal No. 126 of 1987) [1987] TZCA 136 (10 December 1987) Ambiguous reproachful words do not constitute incitement to murder; second appellant acquitted, first appellant’s conviction upheld. * Criminal law – Murder – Joint enterprise and incitement – Whether reproachful or ambiguous words constitute incitement or counselling to kill; * Words as incitement – must be capable of only one meaning as a call to commit the offence; * Evidence – Past conduct and surrounding circumstances insufficient to infer agreement or joint intention without clear evidence of counselling or incitement.	10 December 1987
Said Mbarouk Nassor vs S. M. Z. (Criminal Appeal No. 98 of 1987) [1987] TZCA 137 (10 December 1987) Circumstantial evidence and corroborated witness accounts upheld a murder conviction; the appellant's alibi failed to raise reasonable doubt. Criminal law – murder; circumstantial evidence sufficiency and exclusivity; alibi — burden to raise reasonable doubt; corroboration of partly inconsistent witness testimony; conduct after offence as probative circumstance.	10 December 1987
May 1987
Mohamed Khalfan Khamis and Masoud Shamis Habib vs S. M. Z. (Criminal Appeal No. 55 of 1987) [1987] TZCA 180 (5 May 1987) Appellate court affirms conviction: eyewitness identification and corroborated dying declaration sustain verdict despite procedural misdirections on alibi. * Criminal law – Identification evidence – reliability and opportunity to observe – immediate identification by eyewitnesses can sustain conviction. * Criminal law – Dying declaration – corroboration – corroborative eyewitness testimony may satisfy requirement. * Criminal procedure – Alibi defence – accused need only raise reasonable doubt; trial judge must not require accused to 'establish' alibi. * Criminal procedure – Section 194(4) CPA – duty to indicate intention to rely on alibi and its procedural significance.	5 May 1987
March 1987
Zacharia Issack Jaffer and Others vs S. M. Z. (Criminal Appeal No. 80 of 1986) [1987] TZCA 190 (11 March 1987) Trial judge wrongly shifted burden to the appellants; prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Criminal law – burden of proof – prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt; trial judge must not shift burden to accused; Presidential Decree No.11/1969 (s.9) for People’s Courts not applicable to High Court; retracted extra‑judicial statements unreliable; circumstantial evidence must exclude innocent hypothesis.	11 March 1987
Zakaria Issack Janeer and Others vs S.M.Z (Criminal Appeal No. 80 of 1986) [1987] TZCA 123 (11 March 1987) Conviction quashed: prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt; circumstantial and medical evidence did not exclude accident. Criminal law – burden of proof – prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt; accused not required to prove innocent explanation. Criminal law – circumstantial evidence – must be such as to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. Evidence law – extra‑judicial/cautioned statements – retracted statements not reliable for conviction of co‑accused. Forensic evidence – post‑mortem showing violent death insufficient alone to convict absent exclusion of accidental causes.	11 March 1987
January 1987
Mbarouk Said Sultan vs S.M.Z (Criminal Case No. 82 of 1986) [1987] TZCA 98 (1 January 1987) Conviction quashed where prosecution failed to prove child's death and relied on inadequate circumstantial and inadmissible evidence. * Criminal law – circumstantial evidence – burden to prove death and to exclude all reasonable hypotheses – conviction unsafe where disappearance not shown to be death. * Evidence – anonymous letter held inadmissible and unreliable as proof of death. * Procedure – duty of prosecution to conduct adequate investigations (hospital inquiries, neighbours, relatives) before inferring death. * Constitutional/Procedural – Section 9 Presidential Decree No.11/1969 cannot be invoked to depart from established High Court rules; appellant wrongly subjected to cross-examination after silence.	1 January 1987
Mohamed Rafik Ramzan vs S.M.Z (Criminal Appeal No. 81 of 1986) [1987] TZCA 99 (1 January 1987) Dying declarations and child evidence were unreliable and insufficiently corroborated, rendering the murder conviction unsafe. Criminal law – conviction based on dying declaration and child witnesses – dying declaration inconsistent and made in critical condition – limited probative value; Evidence of children of tender years – necessity for preliminary examination and recorded reasons under s.118 Evidence Decree and s.145 Criminal Procedure Decree – failure affects weight though not necessarily admissibility; Corroboration – quarrel, burns and presence of children insufficient corroboration to meet criminal standard; Appeal – conviction and sentence unsafe, quashed.	1 January 1987