Clement Pancras versusThe Republic; Criminal Appeal No. 321 of 2013: Court of Appeal of Tanzania at Mwanza (Unreported).
- Criminal Procedure
- Plea of guilty – What is the procedure to be followed?
- Court
- Extraneous matters – Judge introduced extraneous matters in a case i.e that she was ‘a human rights activist’, she had been a victim of abuses by a spouse etc – Effect.
Held:-
(i) In any case in which a conviction is likely to proceed on a plea of guilty, it is most desirable not only that every constituent of the charge should be explained to the accused but that he should be required to admit or deny every constituent of the offence and that what he says should be recorded and in the form which will satisfy an appeal court that he fully understood the charge and pleaded guilty to every element of it unequivocally.
(ii) Ideally and under normal circumstances, once an accused person pleads guilty, the prosecution is called upon to narrate the facts after which they said accused would be called upon to admit or deny them. In the event the accused admits them a conviction would then follow in terms of section 282. Thereafter, the prosecution would be asked to state if there is any previous record of conviction in respect of the accused. This process would then be followed by mitigation and sentence respectively.
(iii) It is not open for a judge to introduce extraneous matters such as personal experiences that have no bearing on the case.