Nguza and sons appeal: Important documents land in highest court
By Keregero Keregero
29th October 2009
Nguza Vicking
The legal documents containing the criminal appeal filed by Congolese musician Nguza Vicking and his three sons currently serving life sentence for defiling minors, have at long last landed in the highest court of the land in Dar es Salaam.
Reliable news told this paper yesterday that the documents which are known as records of appeal in legal language were formally delivered in their entirety to the Court of Appeal last week. It is envisaged that with these records in the hands of the Supreme Court, the process leading to the start of the long awaited hearing of the criminal appeal in question would soon be set in motion, certainly at a date to be determined by the court.
Nguza and his children were convicted and sentenced in 2004 by the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court to life imprisonment for sodomising 10 Mashujaa Primary School pupils in the city.
The trial that lasted long was finally determined by Addy Lyamuya, then Principal Resident Magistrate, who found all accused persons guilty of the offence charged, and accordingly, inflicted upon them a deterrent sentence as required by the provisions of the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act (SOSPA) of 1998 which amended, to an extent, the Penal Code, Cap 16 Vol, of the Revised Laws of Tanzania.
However, they were not happy with the trial magistrate's decision of both conviction and sentence. They appealed to the High Court, seeking the court's intervention to overturn the decision of the lower court in their favour.
But it appears they had hoped against hope as High Court Judge Thomas Mihayo (as he then was) upheld the same, which decision threw overboard the appeal in question, hence the present appeal, of which the appellants' lawyer has all along fought for with vigour and determination, at least to see that justice has been done to his clients.
All along the appellants have been represented by Advocate Herbert Nyange. It is the appellants' case that the evidence tendered in court was not sufficient to ground a conviction. The other appellants are Francis Nguza, Papii Nguza and Nguza Mbangu. A woman co-accused who was a teacher at the same school was later acquitted by the trial court after it was satisfied that there was no incriminating evidence against her.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN