Skip to document content Skip to main menu Skip to search

High Court of Tanzania

This is the second level in the Judiciary justice delivery hierarchy. It has both appellate and original powers on civil and criminal matters. It also hears appeals from the Courts of Resident Magistrate, the District Courts, and the District Land and Housing Tribunals in exercise of their original, appellate and/or revisional jurisdiction. The High Court is divided into Zones and specialized Divisions.

Physical address

24 Kivukoni Road, P O Box: S.L.P. 9004

Visit website

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

7 judgments

Advanced search

Court registries

All years

All months

Sort by:

7 judgments

Citation	Judgment date
September 1976
Republic vs Sudi s/o Kaunda and Others (Criminal Sessions Case No. 67 of 1976) [1976] TZHC 204 (13 September 1976) Circumstantial evidence and recent-possession presumption insufficient to convict where possession and identification are doubtful. Criminal law – Circumstantial evidence – Doctrine of recent possession – Requirements of recency and identification; ownership and identification of allegedly stolen items; adequacy of footprints/traces leading to a village.	13 September 1976
August 1976
Republic vs Samson s/o Ugula (Criminal Sessions Case No. 41 of 1976) [1976] TZHC 196 (23 August 1976) Suspicion of poisoning insufficient for murder conviction where medical and chemical evidence were inconclusive. Criminal law – murder by poisoning – circumstantial and eyewitness evidence – forensic proof required to establish cause of death – mishandling of biological specimens undermining chemical analysis – acquittal where guilt not proved beyond reasonable doubt.	23 August 1976
Republic vs Ilango Kimwii and Others (Criminal Appeal No. 80 OF 1976) [1976] TZHC 194 (19 August 1976) Child identification corroborated by clothing, assembly and blood evidence sufficed to convict five accused of murder. Criminal law – Murder – Identification evidence by child witnesses – Conditions for reliable visual identification at night – Need for corroboration of single-witness identification – Circumstantial corroboration (assembly at accused's house; clothing and bedsheet with deceased's blood group) – Alibi assessment.	19 August 1976
Republic vs Mbwala Njiku and Others (Criminal Sessions Case No. 49 of 1972) [1976] TZHC 45 (6 August 1976) Sole eyewitness’s inconsistent, possibly biased identification rendered convictions unsafe; accused acquitted. Criminal law – Identification evidence – Single eyewitness whose testimony contains inconsistencies and omissions – Credibility and reliability – Unsafe to convict; doctrine of common purpose not applicable where presence not proved.	6 August 1976
April 1976
Republic vs Yohana s/o Makala @ Majembe Makala and Another (Criminal Sessions Case No. 46 of 1976) [1976] TZHC 166 (3 April 1976) Accused who killed his father found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered detained in a mental institution. Criminal law – Insanity defence – Whether accused was legally insane when he committed the killing; Psychiatric evidence and eyewitness testimony as basis for finding of insanity; Special finding under section 168(1) Criminal Procedure Code and subsequent disposition to Minister of Justice; Detention of accused as a criminal lunatic.	3 April 1976
January 1976
Republic vs Gritica s/o Shija (Criminal Sessions Case No. 113 of 1976) [1976] TZHC 286 (1 January 1976) Discovery of a long‑term partner in bed with another amounted to provocation, reducing murder to manslaughter; identification evidence proved decisive. Criminal law – Identification evidence – reliability of identification by victim and supporting eyewitnesses. Criminal law – Alibi – assessment of credibility and afterthoughts. Family law – Cohabitation – presumption of marriage under s.160 Law of Marriage Act based on long cohabitation. Criminal law – Provocation – discovery of long‑term partner in bed with another; reduction of murder to manslaughter. Criminal procedure – s.181(2) CPC – court's power to convict of lesser offence. Sentencing – mitigating factors weighed against brutal nature of assault (multiple panga wounds).	1 January 1976
Republic vs Ilango Kimwili and Others (Criminal Sessions Case No. 18 of 1976) [1976] TZHC 291 (1 January 1976) Child identification corroborated by forensic and circumstantial evidence sufficed to convict the respondents of murder. Criminal law – Murder; identification evidence by child witnesses; competence and corroboration of tender‑age witnesses; circumstantial evidence; forensic blood‑group evidence (bedsheet) as corroboration; assessment of alibi defences.	1 January 1976

1