Wife convicted of husband’s murder cheats gallows

 

THE Court of Appeal has acquitted a housewife, Janeroza Petro, who was sentenced to death by hanging for killing her husband in collaboration with two others, allegedly chopping off his testicles for ritual purposes.

Justices Mbrouk Mbarouk, Bernard Luanda and Richard Mziray ruled in favour of the wife, who was the appellant, after allowing the appeal that she had filed against the High Court verdict dated April 30, 2015. 

 

They noted in their judgment delivered in Tabora recently; several irregularities committed by the High Court during the trial, including a justice of peace being allowed to give testimony without first her statement being read during the conduct of committal proceedings.

Another defect related to the cautioned statement of the appellant that was tendered in evidence to prove the charge being taken beyond the prescribed time of four hours after her arrest, contrary to section 50 (1) (a) of the Criminal Procedure Act.

“The irregularities pointed out by the court are fundamental and go to the admissibility of evidence, which the prosecution relied upon. The prosecution has no evidence to prove its case once the cautioned and extra judicial statements were expunged,” they said.

As the consequence, therefore, the justices had not option than exercising their revisional powers as [provided under section 4 (2) of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act] to nullify the proceedings, wash the conviction and set aside the sentence.

“The appellant is to be released from prison forthwith unless otherwise detained in connection with another matter,” they declared. Facts show that the deceased and his family were living at Lubalisi Village, Uvinza District in Kigoma Region.

The appellant was linked with the murder of her husband following a secret conversation she had with two other people, who were friends of the deceased and who were said to have killed him.

The appellant had appeared to have agreed with the two friends of her husband to enable them get the deceased’s testicles for ritual purposes on payment. On the fateful day at night time while the deceased and the appellant were asleep, the two men forced open the door of the house. They roughed up the deceased, pinned him up to the ground, eventually killing him.

They then proceeded to remove one of the testicles from his body and vanished. The appellant was not paid as she was promised.

The deceased body was ultimately burnt. It is alleged that the deceased’s father paid a visit to his son because he had not seen him for some several months. He asked the appellant on the whereabouts of his son.

The appellant told him that the decease had travelled to Rukwa Region. The father could not see his son for three consecutive days and decided to report to the village authorities.

The authority ordered a search of the deceased after the appellant had been keeping on changing stories as to the exact place where the deceased was.

The search managed to discover a skull and bones of a human being in a bush, not far from the house of the deceased.

The matter was reported to the police. Following investigations, the appellant was arrested and charged with murder of her husband.