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I took goods to Sawaya yard, says witness
2005-05-20 08:18:00
By Sifa Lubasi
A Prosecution witness told a Dar es Salaam court yesterday that he was hired to transport motor vehicle tyres and cartons of radios to the yard of businessman Rowland Sawaya who is on trial for robbery with five other people.
Kassim Said told the Temeke District Court that he took the goods to the yard at Mikocheni from Sinza where they had been transferred to his lorry with the registration number ZNZ 31365 from another truck.
He said he recognised the third and sixth accused, Felix Shayo and Roland Kombe respectively after first seeing them at Sinza when he went to collect the tyres and radios.
Shayo was picking up radio cartons that fell as they were being loaded onto the lorry while Kombe was the one who showed him where the truck should be parked.
'I took the radios and tyres of various sizes to the yard of Kilimanjaro Truck Company at Mikocheni and was paid 40,000/-,' the witness told the court.
Said was later cross-examined by defence lawyer Herbert Nyange: You said that you offloaded the goods at the Kilimanjaro Truck Company yard.
Was there any signpost outside indicating that the place was a yard belonging to the company?
Said: There was no signpost, but inside, there were several vehicles written Kilimanjaro Truck Company.
Nyange: How long did it take you to load the goods onto your lorry at Sinza?Said: I don’t remember.
Sawaya, Shayo, Kombe, Kitwana Juma, Prosper Njiro and Athumani Msemo are charged with stealing goods worth 134,207,000/- from the premises of Nchambi's Transporters Ltd on the night of March 10, this year, after threatening a watchman with a firearm.
They deny the conspiracy and robbery charges brought against them.
A seventh person, Sharifa Christopher, was earlier this week charged with possessing stolen property. She denied the charge and was released on bail.
Trial magistrate Akwey Rusema postponed the trial to next Monday.
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