The five Appellants were tried before the Resident
Magistrate’s Court of Dodoma at Dodoma, along with three other persons, for
various offences laid under the Wildlife Conversation Act, No. 5 of 2009. The
Appellants and two of the three other persons, namely, Daudi Makuwo Mwaja and
Yohana Jackson Chuma Ulaya @ Kapelemela, were convicted of three offences,
namely, leading organized crime, unlawful dealing in trophies and unlawful
possession of government trophies and each of them earned concurrent terms of
imprisonment ranging from two years to twenty years. On first appeal, the High
Court quashed and set aside the Appellants’ convictions and sentences for leading
organized crime and unlawful dealing in trophies and also quashed and set aside
all the convictions and sentences against Mwaja and Ulaya. However, that court
sustained the Appellants’ respective convictions and sentences in respect of
the third count of unlawful possession of government trophies, hence the
present appeal.