Godlisten Raymond and Another versus The Republic; Criminal Appeal No 363 of 2014; Court of Appeal of Tanzania at Dodoma (Unreported).
- Criminal Procedure
- Conviction – Principle offender acquitted – whether accessories may be convicted.
- Evidence.
- Visual identification – deceased described the accused as Mweupe Wastani-: (white complexion) – whether sufficient.
- Dying declaration – the deceased failed to give full description of the accused – effect
- Identification parade – guidelines that must be complied with.
Held:-
(i) It is now settled that when a court relies on visual identification, one of the important aspects to be considered is to give enough description of the culprit in terms of body build, complexion, size, attire, or any other peculiar body features to make the next person that comes across such as culprit to repeat those descriptions at his first report to the police on the crime.
(ii) Where a deceased in dying declaration gave a very limited description of the accused e.g white complexion, it is unsafe to rely upon such description to find the accused correctly identified.
(iii) The guidelines on the conduct of an identification parade as stipulated in the Police General Orders (PGO) Number 231 shall be complied with. Non – compliance renders the evidence worthless.
(iv) As a general principle, where in a criminal charge, the principal offender is acquitted, the conviction of an accessory, cannot be sustained. However, if the offence is proved to have been committed, the accessory can still be convicted.