Verdict on appeal against Zombe acquittal today

The outcome of appeal lodged by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to challenge the acquittal of former Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdallah Zombe and others on charges of killing three mineral dealers and a taxi driver will be known today.

Court of Appeal Registrar John Kahyoza will deliver the court’s judgment on behalf of the panel led by Justice Bernard Luanda after hearing the submissions presented by both the prosecution and the defence sides.

The DPP opposes the judgment given on September 17, 2009, by then High Court Judge Salum Massati, who set free all the police officers in respect of the murder charge.

ACP Zombe was charged alongside Senior Superintendent of Police Christopher Bageni, Assistant Superintendent of Police Ahmed Makelle, Constable Jane Andrew, Constable Noel Leonard and Constable Emmanuel Mabula.

The rest were Corporal Felix Sedrick, Corporal Nyangerela Moris, Constable Michael Shonza, Corporal Abeneth Salo, Corporal Rajabu Bakari and Corporal Festus Gwabisabi.

But in the course of the appeal’s hearing, the DPP dropped his case to other police officers and decided to pursue the appeal against SSP Bageni, ASP Makelle and Corporal Bakari.

The police officers were charged with four counts of killing of three mineral businessmen Sabinus Chigumbi and his relatives Ephrahim Chigumbi and Mathias Lunkombe from Mahenge, Morogoro Region; and Juma Ndugu, ex-taxi driver at Manzese in Dar es Salaam.

The four people were cruelly killed one by one by the police using a gun on January 14, 2006, at Pande Forest, in Kinondoni District in the city. Justice Massati set free all the accused persons on September 17, 2009, for prosecutions failure to prove the charges against them.