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Keenja daughter`s case:Court wants police file in on April 24
2008-04-09 09:34:04
By Rosemary Mirondo
The Kisutu Resident Magistrate`s Court yesterday ordered the prosecution to search for the police file so that hearing of a case facing the daughter of Ubungo Member of Parliament Charles Keenja and two others who are facing a 300m/- theft charge could start.
The order was issued by Resident Magistrate Hasan Makube of the said court in Dar es Salaam .
Earlier, the prosecutor, Inspector of Police Hamisi Myella, had told the court that he did not have the original police file, saying it could quite possibly be with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Hence he prayed for more time in order to establish the whereabouts of the file.
This was however challenged by the defence counsel, who argued that the prosecution had had more than ample time since April 24, last year, to look for the file, and proceeded to ask the court to set a hearing date.
It is at this juncture that the court ordered the prosecution to look for the case file because it was its duty to know the whereabouts of files for cases they handled.
The court further said it could not continue entertaining lame excuses about a file going missing without trace, considering that one of the accused had since December 2006 been languishing in custody.
The court then ordered the prosecution to ensure it found the file in the meantime and present it in court on April 24, this year, so that hearing of the case can commence.
Other accused in the case are Tabora National Housing Corporation regional manager Damas Madwari Ngoiya (47) and Josephat Leema Nyambekwa (48), who is managing director of Manyoni Auctioneer Company.
In the case, the accused are alleged to have conspired at unknown time and place in Dar es Salaam with other people not in court to steal 333.3m/-, the property of a Chinese national, Li Jinglan.
Assistant Inspector of Police Subira Tossi alleged that on May 9, last year, at Haile Selasie Road in Kinondoni District, the accused and others broke into a NHC apartment rented by Jinglan with intent to steal.
The Chinese, who had been in the country for several years, had been living in the apartment number 103 situated on plots number 3, 5,7 and 9.
The prosecution alleged that upon entering the apartment, the accused stole from therein several items including 74 bundles of clothes valued at USD210,000, one Dell computer valued at USD1,800 and one digital video camera valued at USD1,500.
Other stolen items, according to the prosecution, include one digital camera, five wooden cupboards, wooden beds, one metal cupboard, two pairs of dumbbell, rings and pieces of diamond, tanzanite, rubies and several other household items, property of the Chinese national.
The case was adjourned to April 24, this year.
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