Andrea Francis versus The Republic

Andrea Francis versus The Republic; Criminal Appeal No. 173 of 2014: Court of Appeal of Tanzania at Dodoma (Unreported).

• Evidence

• Rape – Statutory rape – whether mention of age in charge sheet and citation by a magistrate regarding the age of a witness before giving evidence is evidence of age.

Held:-

It is trite law that the citation in a charge sheet relating to the age of an accused person is not evidence. Likewise, the citation by a magistrate regarding the age of a witness before giving evidence is not evidence of that person’s age.  Therefore, in statutory rape, the evidence in a trial must disclose the person’s age.