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Court of Appeal dismisses application for lack of merit
2007-10-13 09:15:44
By Haji Mbaruku
An application filed by a Mbinga resident seeking leave of the court to lodge an application for review out of time, has been dismissed in Dar es Salaam by the highest court of the land for lacking merit.
The Court of Appeal Justice, M.S.Mbarouk, dismissed the application filed by Livinus Daud Manyuka against the Republic on Tuesday this week.
The applicant was tried, convicted and sentenced in a criminal case to a 20 year imprisonment term by Mbinga District Court, for the offence of robbery with violence.
Aggrieved by both the conviction and sentence he appealed to the High Court.
His appeal was dismissed and the sentence enhanced to a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years imprisonment.
But still aggrieved, he appealed to the Court of Appeal where it was also dismissed.
In the circumstances, the applicant was now seeking the court`s leave to lodge his application for review out of time.
Delivering the court`s ruling, Justice Mbarouk refuted the applicant`s grounds as baseless.
He said the claim that the applicant was absent at the time the judgment of this court was delivered in Mbeya held no water because the applicant was represented by a lawyer who appeared on his behalf as evidenced by a certified copy of the judgment.
He further observed that there were neither sufficient reasons for the delay in filing the application for review, nor were there sufficient reasons for the extension of time to file such a review application disclosed by the applicant.
`What has been stated in his affidavit to my mind does not constitute sufficient reason to extend time to file a review application as in this case. In the absence of sufficient reason to extend time to file such a review, application as directed by Rule 8 of the Court of Appeal Rules, my hands are tied to use discretion conferred upon me in granting this application,` he said.
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