The Appellant was charged with statutory rape of a girl whose age was alleged to be 17 years. It was recorded that the Appellant had pleaded guilty to the charge. The Appellant was convicted and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment. He appealed against conviction and sentence to the High Court arguing that there was no evidence that the girl’s age was 17 years. The High Court summarily dismissed the appeal holding the Appellant had been convicted on an unequivocal plea of guilty for which there is no right to appeal and that the sentence meted out to him was statutory. He appealed further to the Court of Appeal of Tanzania arguing that the girl was a grown up person “who knew good and bad things”, implying that she had attained the age of consent, that is, 18 years or above. The Counsel for the Respondent (i.e. Republic) contended that it was legally wrong for the High Court to dismiss the appeal summarily.