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Accused: I was odd man out
2006-02-17 07:05:51
By Salome Kitomary, PST, Moshi
The first accused in the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) Moshi Branch 5.3bn/- robbery trial said yesterday that police deliberately ensured that he was wildly unkept at the identification parade.
Led by defence lawyers Loom Ojare and Medium Mwale, Jackson ole Nemetemi told the Moshi Resident Magistrate’s Court that police forced him to dress shabbily before the identification parade, and that he was the odd man out in the exercise.
’’You honour, I was dressed in dirty, tattered clothes and was covered in dust from head to toe.
This made it easy for anybody to conclude that I was the chief suspect in the robbery because I was the only one who was untidy in the parade,’’ he told High Court Judge Amir Mruma, who is hearing the case.
He said the three prosecution witnesses who claimed to have identified him during the parade held at Moshi’s main police station on July 3, 2004 had lied to the court because the police had directed them in advance to pick him out.
Giving an example, ole Nemetemi said prosecution witness Mariam Mkizungwa went straight up to him and touched him, saying he was the one who robbed the bank. She didn’t bother to look at the other suspects in the parade, he added.
The accused said, however, that he was not surprised because he saw a police officer ’’coaching’’ the witness on the sidelines before she identified him.
Ole Nemetemi said he complained to an Inspector Mbwana, about the way the identification parade was being conducted, but the officer retorted that suspects should not expect justice while in police hands and that if what he wanted was justice, he would get it from God.
He said he was taken to Himo Police Station in Moshi Rural District on July 11, 2004 where PC Oscar Sakawa took down his statement.
Among other things, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the identification parade.
The accused told the court that police had failed to prove many allegations levelled against him, including claims that he bought the 52nd prosecution witness, Monica Mshehe, a car and that he gave her a large sum of money to take to Kenya.
He also said the prosecution had also not been able to support its claims that he took millions of shillings to a traditional healer while in the company of fellow accused Evelyne Mlaki.
Ole Nemetemi said the 47m/- found in possession of co-accused Happy Laizer belonged to him, adding that he had changed the money at the Namanga border post after arriving from a business trip in Kenya.
Ole Nemetemi and 13 others deny robbing the NBC Moshi Branch of 5.3bn/- on May 21, 2004.
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