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Man who mistakenly killed in-law freed
2006-01-07 09:26:45
By Guardian Reporter
A Man who shot dead his brother-in-law after mistaking him for a crop-munching farm pest has been set free by the Court of Appeal.
Selemani Mkwanda, a resident of Namikolo Rwangwa in Lindi Region, was in 2002 sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for manslaughter by the High Court sitting in Mtwara.
He was found guilty of killing Issa Abdallah as they were hunting animals destroying crops on April 26, 2000.
Justices John Mrosso, Harold Nsekela and January Msoffe heard Mkwanda’s appeal against the sentence.
Delivering the verdict on behalf of the three-judge panel, Sam Rumanyika, Deputy Registrar of the Court of Appeal, said the lower court had erred in law by sentencing the appellant to a five-year jail term.
He said the court had thus decided to quash the sentence and set the appellant free since he had already served three years of the term.
Rumanyika added, however, that the Director of Public Prosecutions was at liberty to file fresh charges against the appellant.
Mkwanda had asked the Court of Appeal to overturn the sentence on the grounds that there was sufficient evidence showing that he did not intend to kill Abdallah.
The High Court heard during the course of Mkwanda’s trial that the accused, Abdallah and a third person had on the fateful day gone out to hunt for pests that were destroying crops on the accused’s shamba.
As they were searching, a monkey appeared among the crops, prompting the accused, who was armed with a shotgun, to shoot at the animal which fled into a nearby thicket.
Mkwanda went after the animal, leaving his colleagues behind, but Abdallah followed him into the thicket, and the accused, apparently thinking that it was a pest, opened fire in his direction and the bullet struck him on the thigh.
Abdallah was taken to Rwangwa Hospital where he died two days later.
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