Application 032/2017 – Amos Kabota v. United Republic of Tanzania
CASE SUMMARY
I. PARTIES
- The Applicant is a citizen of the United Republic of Tanzania and is
currently serving 30 years imprisonment at the Uyui Central Prison,
Tabora having been convicted of rape. His application is against the
United Republic of Tanzania which is thus considered the Respondent. - The Application is filed against the United Republic of Tanzania
(hereinafter referred to as “the Respondent State”), which became a
Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereinafter
referred to as “the Charter”) on 21 October 1986 and to the Protocol on
10 February 2006. Furthermore, the Respondent State, on 29 March
2010, deposited the Declaration prescribed under Article 34(6) of the
Protocol, through which it accepted the jurisdiction of the Court to
receive applications from individuals and NGOs (hereinafter referred to
as “the Declaration”). On 21 November 2019, the Respondent State
deposited, with the African Union Commission an instrument
withdrawing the said Declaration.
II. SUBJECT OF THE APPLICATION
A. Facts of the matter
- The Applicant was convicted of rape in the District Court of Nzega on
26 May 2009 and sentenced to thirty (30) years imprisonment. The
conviction and sentence were both upheld on appeal to the High Court
in Criminal Appeal no. 159 on 9 th August 2011 and subsequently in
Criminal Appeal no. 33 of 2012 in the Court of Appeal on 8 th March
2014.
B. Alleged violations
- The Applicant alleges the violation of his right to a fair trial under Article
7 of the Charter, that:
(a) The Court of the Appeal in its judgment of 8 th March 2014 erred
in upholding his conviction. That the Court of Appeal especially
erred in failing to take into account the effect of the defective
charge sheet used in his conviction. The said charge sheet, the
applicant avers, did not categorize his rape charge.
(b) The Court of Appeal erred in accepting the evidence of the
witness who was twelve (12) years old because it was taken on
oath. This is especially because according to the Applicant,
there was no proof that the witness understood the meaning of
swearing an oath.
(c) ‘… the medical report was used in the evidence in breach of
section 240 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2002 (Cap.20)
R.E.’
III. APPLICANT’S PRAYERS
- The Applicant prays the Court to:
(a) Grant him reparations pursuant to Article 27 (1) of the Protocol to the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of
the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
(b) ‘Restore(s) justice where it was overlooked, quash both the conviction
and sentence imposed on’ him, and set him free from ‘prison custody’.
(c) Make ‘any other order(s) or legal remedy that the Court think fit in the
circumstance of the complaint’.
