The Appellant who was convicted of rape and sentenced to the
mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment had his appeal to the High
Court of Tanzania at Mtwara dismissed. Still aggrieved he appealed to the Court
of Appeal of Tanzania where he attacked the decision of the High Court on
various grounds including that the evidence of identification adduced by PW1
and PW2 was weak given that the offence was committed during the night when
conditions of identification were unfavourable and visibility poor and that the
doctor who examined the victim of rape was not called to testify so the PF.3,
Exhibit P1 should not have been relied upon to ground a conviction for rape.
The Appellant also challenged the decision of the High Court in upholding the
decision of the trial court which conducted a short voire dire
examination to satisfy itself that the complainant had sufficient intelligence
to testify truthfully.