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Sawaya: Crucial ruling set for today
2005-07-13 09:05:31
By Sifa Lubasi
Businessman Rowland Sawaya and five other people will know today whether or not they have a case to answer.
Sawaya, Kitwana Mnyika, Athumani Msemo, Felix Shayo, Prosper Njiro and Roland Kombe are on trial for robbery at Dar es Salaam’s Temeke District Court.
Trial magistrate Kwey Rusema is due to rule on the prosecution’s plea that the accused be acquitted or the charges against them be revised.
The ruling was originally scheduled for last Friday, but was put off to today because Rusema was sick.
Defence lawyers told the court last month that the prosecution had failed to prove that the accused were involved in an armed robbery and called for their acquittal.
They said none of the 12 prosecution witnesses had mentioned the use of a weapon in their testimonies.
The accused have been charged with stealing goods worth 134m/- during a raid on Nchambi’s Transport Company Ltd on the night of March 10, this year.
They deny the charges against them but have been denied bail on the grounds that armed robbery was a non-bailable offence.
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