Said Mshangama @ Senga versus The Republic; Criminal Appeal No 8 of 2014: Court of Appeal of Tanzania at Mtwara (Unreported).
- Evidence
- Circumstantial evidence – under what circumstances conviction may solely base on circumstantial evidence?
- Criminal Procedure
- Assessors – Assessors not adequately addressed on a vital point of law – Effect
Held:-
(i) In a case depending conclusively upon circumstantial evidence, the court must before deciding upon conviction find that the exculpatory facts are incapable with the innocence of the accused and incapable of explanation upon any other reasonable hypothesis than that of quality.
(ii) A trial of murder before the High court must be with the aid of assessors. One of the basic procedures is that the trial judge must adequately sum up to the said assessors before recording their opinions. Where there is inadequate summing up, eg. failing to address them on the fact that dying declaration must be corroborated if the trial Court has to ground a conviction relying thereto, non-direction or misdirection on such a vital point of law to assessors, it is deemed to be a trial without the aid of assessors and renders the trial a nullity.