Gwisu Nkonoli and 3 Others versus The Republic; Criminal Appeal No 359 of 2014: Court of Appeal of Tanzania at Dodoma (Unreported).
- Evidence
- Identification parade – There is a need for the witness to describe the accused before the parade is conducted.
- Identification- description of special marks of alleged stolen goods must be given.
Held:-
(i) It is settled law that for any identification parade to be of any value, the identifying witnesses must have earlier given a detailed description of the suspects. Non – compliance renders the identification parade devoid of any value.
(ii) It is now settled that, a detailed description by giving special marks of the alleged stolen items has to be made before such exhibits are tendered in court. That act will avoid doubts as to the correctness of the alleged stolen items.
(iii) Description of specific mark to any property alleged stolen should always be given first by the alleged owner before being shown and allowed to tender them as exhibits. Failure to do so is a fatal omission in the prosecution case.