Mathias Bundala versus The Republic; Criminal Appeal No 62 of 2004: Court of Appeal of Tanzania at Mwanza (Unreported).
- Evidence
- Contradictions – minor contradictions in testimonies –the evidence was given nine years following the event – whether fatal.
- Credibility of witnesses- under what circumstances credibility of a witness may be shaken?
- Circumstantial evidence- when it can be relied upon?
Held:-
(i) When a witness gives evidence after a long interval say six years following the event, allowance ought to be given for minor discrepancies.
(ii) It is trite law that every witness is entitled to credence and must be believed and his testimony accepted unless there are good and cogent reasons for not believing a witness. The assumption will always be that the testimony is true unless the witness’s character for veracity has been assailed some motive on his or her part to misrepresent the facts has been established his or her bias or prejudice has been demonstrated and he or she has given fundamentally contradictory or improbable evidence or has been irreconcilably contradicted by another witness or witnesses.
(iii) A case depending conclusively on circumstantial evidence, the court must before deciding on a conviction, find that the exculpatory facts are incompatible with the innocence of the accused and incapable of explanation upon and other reasonable hypothesis that of guilty.