Deo Corleone
JF-Expert Member
- Jun 29, 2011
- 16,975
- 13,145
Kwa mujibu wa gazeti la the citizen la leo limeandika kuwa Kasusura kashinda rufaa yake na sasa yupo huru.
Alihukumiwa miaka 30 jela mwaka 2007 kwa kosa la kuiba dola milioni 22. Fedha hizo zilikua zimepokelewa uwanja wa ndege. Habari kamili kuhusu hili tukio, ipo kwenye hii thread=>Nijuzeni kuhusu "Jambazi" Kasusura
========================
A picture taken in 2010 shows Justin Kasusura being escorted by a warder at the High Court in Dar es Salaam. The Court of Appeal has set him free after he served nine years in jail over the theft of $2 million.
Arusha. The Court of Appeal has set free Justin Kasusura, the man at the centre of the dramatic theft of $2 million (about Sh4.4 billion at the current exchange rate) that belonged to Citibank, the outcome judges linked to shoddy investigation and poor prosecution.
The court said on Monday prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the case against Kasusura who grabbed headlines in the early 2000 following the robbery of money that was being transported from the Julius Nyerere International Airport to a Citibank branch.
The $2 million in cash was brought in from the United States by Swissair before it was stolen on the way to the branch. “With due respect, we wish to state from the outset that we have noted with great concern that this case has been badly investigated and consequently poorly prosecuted,” said judges Sauda Mjasiri, Mbarouk Mbarouk and Semistocles Kaijage.
Mr Kasusura alias John Laizer was in 2007 sentenced to 30 years in jail after the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court found him guilty of armed robbery and theft.
He was charged along six other persons who were later freed after the court found them to have no case to answer.
It was on August 2, 2001 when Kasusura, who worked as a driver with Knight Support Security Company, was assigned to go and collect a consignment at the airport and take it to a Citibank branch located at the city centre.
According to prosecution, as regular practice, he was given a firearm with rounds of ammunition. He duly collected the cargo together with a fellow employee who kept the keys.
But minutes after they left the airport, the charge sheet reads, Kasurura pulled the car on the sidewalk and told his colleague, “The business is over.” He demanded the keys of the parcel section of the car at a gun point, took possession of the money with the assistance of two other men and vanished.
After four months of intense manhunt, the police laid a trap and arrested Kasusura on Christmas eve at a guest house in Mbeya. He unsuccessfully challenged his conviction and sentence in the High Court in 2007 before he made a second attempt at the Court of Appeal in June last year.
Kasusura who had no defence counsel, argued, among other things, that the High Court misdirected itself in upholding his conviction and sentence based on his statement which he argued was taken involuntarily and outside time prescribed by the law. Principal state attorney Tumaini Kweka, who was assisted by Cecilia Mkonongo to represent the State in the appeal, argued that prosecution had proved its case to required standards.
Mr Kweka admitted there was non-compliance of the law with regard to recording of cautioned statement but maintained they produced sufficient evidence to convict the appellant of armed robbery even if the court opted to expunge the statement.
But the three judges agreed with Kasusura that his statement was taken outside the prescribed four hours after he was arrested. Section 50 and 51 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) allows investigators to seek extension of time to record a statement from an accused person if the need arises but only with the permission of a court.
Court records show Kasusura was arrested on December 24, 2007 but his statement was recorded on the 26th, two days later. “The record doesn’t show that an extension of time was granted in terms of Section 51 (1) (a) of the CPA. In the event we expunge the cautioned statement which was tendered in contravention of the requirement of the law,” said the judges.
Kasusura also argued that there was variance between the amount stated to have been stolen as it appeared in the charge sheet against what was stated by the prosecution witness and the documents tendered in court as exhibits.
Chanzo: Thecitizen
Alihukumiwa miaka 30 jela mwaka 2007 kwa kosa la kuiba dola milioni 22. Fedha hizo zilikua zimepokelewa uwanja wa ndege. Habari kamili kuhusu hili tukio, ipo kwenye hii thread=>Nijuzeni kuhusu "Jambazi" Kasusura
========================
A picture taken in 2010 shows Justin Kasusura being escorted by a warder at the High Court in Dar es Salaam. The Court of Appeal has set him free after he served nine years in jail over the theft of $2 million.
Arusha. The Court of Appeal has set free Justin Kasusura, the man at the centre of the dramatic theft of $2 million (about Sh4.4 billion at the current exchange rate) that belonged to Citibank, the outcome judges linked to shoddy investigation and poor prosecution.
The court said on Monday prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the case against Kasusura who grabbed headlines in the early 2000 following the robbery of money that was being transported from the Julius Nyerere International Airport to a Citibank branch.
The $2 million in cash was brought in from the United States by Swissair before it was stolen on the way to the branch. “With due respect, we wish to state from the outset that we have noted with great concern that this case has been badly investigated and consequently poorly prosecuted,” said judges Sauda Mjasiri, Mbarouk Mbarouk and Semistocles Kaijage.
Mr Kasusura alias John Laizer was in 2007 sentenced to 30 years in jail after the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court found him guilty of armed robbery and theft.
He was charged along six other persons who were later freed after the court found them to have no case to answer.
It was on August 2, 2001 when Kasusura, who worked as a driver with Knight Support Security Company, was assigned to go and collect a consignment at the airport and take it to a Citibank branch located at the city centre.
According to prosecution, as regular practice, he was given a firearm with rounds of ammunition. He duly collected the cargo together with a fellow employee who kept the keys.
But minutes after they left the airport, the charge sheet reads, Kasurura pulled the car on the sidewalk and told his colleague, “The business is over.” He demanded the keys of the parcel section of the car at a gun point, took possession of the money with the assistance of two other men and vanished.
After four months of intense manhunt, the police laid a trap and arrested Kasusura on Christmas eve at a guest house in Mbeya. He unsuccessfully challenged his conviction and sentence in the High Court in 2007 before he made a second attempt at the Court of Appeal in June last year.
Kasusura who had no defence counsel, argued, among other things, that the High Court misdirected itself in upholding his conviction and sentence based on his statement which he argued was taken involuntarily and outside time prescribed by the law. Principal state attorney Tumaini Kweka, who was assisted by Cecilia Mkonongo to represent the State in the appeal, argued that prosecution had proved its case to required standards.
Mr Kweka admitted there was non-compliance of the law with regard to recording of cautioned statement but maintained they produced sufficient evidence to convict the appellant of armed robbery even if the court opted to expunge the statement.
But the three judges agreed with Kasusura that his statement was taken outside the prescribed four hours after he was arrested. Section 50 and 51 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) allows investigators to seek extension of time to record a statement from an accused person if the need arises but only with the permission of a court.
Court records show Kasusura was arrested on December 24, 2007 but his statement was recorded on the 26th, two days later. “The record doesn’t show that an extension of time was granted in terms of Section 51 (1) (a) of the CPA. In the event we expunge the cautioned statement which was tendered in contravention of the requirement of the law,” said the judges.
Kasusura also argued that there was variance between the amount stated to have been stolen as it appeared in the charge sheet against what was stated by the prosecution witness and the documents tendered in court as exhibits.
Chanzo: Thecitizen
