Requests for suspected poaching are dismissed, they have a case to answer,

 

By: Our writer, Babati

maipacarusha20@gmail.com

The Babati district court has given the request of a defense lawyer in the case of economic sabotage facing the two suspects of Giraffe poaching and decided that they have a case to answer.

The case concerns the suspects of poaching, Paulo Himid John (23) and Athuman Misanya (23) who were arrested on February 2, 2024 with Giraffe meat and Giraffe carcass worth 50,079,208 million shillings.

 The suspects were arrested in the area of ​​the Burunge WMA's with a shipment of giraffe meat by the anti-poaching squad led by the Tanzania  Wildlife Management Authority (TAWA), in collaboration with the Burunge WMA and chem chem association.

In the case which is being heard by the acting magistrate of the district court of Babati, Victor Kimario, the advocate of the accused, Justine Jackson the other day submitted a request asking the court to recall the two prosecution witnesses to ask them questions after going through the evidence they gave as he has started to defend the clients, when two of the republic's witnesses had already testified.

He said that after reading the court file, he asked the court to recall the witnesses who had already testified in court so that he could come to ask them questions about the evidence they had previously given in court before the advocate was given the job by his clients to defend them (Recall the witnesses for further Cross-examination S .147(4) of the evidence law.

However, Government Prosecutors Getrude Kariongi and Shahidu Kajwagya from TAWA and prosecutor Mahundi, opposed the request of the Defense Counsel.

Kariongi said that when the Republic's witness number one and number two testified, the accused were present and listened to their evidence, and the accused did not say that they intended to put a lawyer before the court and the court also gave them the opportunity to ask questions (cross-examination) of the witnesses.

The prosecutors explained that the accused were given the opportunity to question the witnesses, but they said they had no questions.

So they explained that in accordance with article 147 subsection 4 of the law of evidence, it talks about further questions (further cross-examination or examinations in chief) in the sense that if the accused said they have no questions, that is, they did not ask questions at all and according to that law, there should be more questions the question asked by the lawyer should have the opportunity to continue asking other questions when the previous question was asked.

The prosecution also cited the decisions of the high court in Moshi in the case of Bakari Yahaya Ausen Msambaa against the Republic number 646/2016 and the decisions of the Court of Appeal in the case of Shomari Mohamedi Mkwama against the Republic number 606 in 2021 sitting in Dar es Salaam which explained the circumstances of the witnesses being called again.

 So after those arguments, the presiding magistrate Kimario gave a small decision and rejected the request of the defense side because during the testimony of the witnesses the accused were given the opportunity to ask questions and they said they did not and also after reading the decisions of the appeal court cases the court stated that the circumstances of those are completely similar to the case, so he agrees with the decisions of the honorable Judges and rejects the request to call the witnesses a new.

He said that due to these decisions, the case should continue with the witness of the Republic, Wildlife Officer Godluck James, who gave his evidence and named the suspects involved in poaching.

After the evidence, the Republic closed its evidence where magistrate Kimario explained that after going through the evidence, the accused have a case to answer and thus the accused will begin to defend themselves.

The case, which is being investigated by many people in the presence of conservation stakeholders and government officials, is scheduled to continue to be heard on April 17 this year

Conservation stakeholders congratulate the Babati court.

In another step, conservation stakeholders have congratulated the Babati district court for the step it has taken to stop poaching.

Conservationist Joram Peter said that they, as conservation stakeholders, are satisfied with the measures that have been taken by the courts and the government in general to deal with poaching.

"We are very grateful to the judicial officers, in the presence of magistrate Kimario, they are really doing justice to ensure that the nation's resources are protected for the benefit of the present and future generations.