Herder lynched during farmer pastoralist row in Kalambo

A PASTORALIST has been lynched while another one sustained severe injuries as eight herders have been arrested for interrogation following the fighting that erupted between the farmers and pastoralists at Mwimbi Village in Kalambo District in Rukwa Region.

This comes as the Court of Appeal confirmed the 30-year imprisonment imposed on Bishop Edson Mwombeki of the Tanzania Evangelism Field (TEF) Church in Shinyanga Region for raping a member of his congregation (16) years in a hotel within Mwanza City.

Meanwhile, two village chairmen and village executive officer have been arrested for allowing herds of cattle to their areas of jurisdiction without the permission of Kalambo District Commissioner, Ms Julieth Binyura.

This resurfaced when the Rukwa Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Zelothe Steven, recently visited Mwimbi Village where he ordered civil leaders from village, ward, district and region to stop from receiving herds of cattle from other areas without approval from relevant organs in an effort to permanently address land dispute between the two communities.

He said he has been prompted to issue such a directive following the lynching of a pastoralist while the other sustained severe injuries on head and legs after the later managed to flee from the hands of irate farmers.

Mr Steven was briefed that the wounded pastoralist was briefly admitted at Mwimbi Health Centre before taken to Rukwa Regional Referral Hospital in Sumbawanga Town for further treatment.

Mwimbi Ward Executive Officer, Mr Tamali Mwakajinga, told the RC that the grisly incident took place at around 5:30 pm in the fight that involved four pastoralists and eight farmers.

Earlier in her welcoming note, Ms Binyura told Mr Steven that she had ordered for the arrest of two village chairmen and a village executive officer for receiving herds of cattle to their areas with her approval.

“I have already arrested the local functionaries for receiving herds of cattle without following proper procedures … I urge the other leaders to refrain from committing similar mistakes; those who will defy they will face the consequences.

You must seek my authorisation before receiving them,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal has confirmed the 30-year jail sentence imposed on Bishop Mwombeki for raping a congregation member.

Justices Edward Rutakangwa, Salum Massati and Stella Mugasha ruled against Bishop Mwombeki, the appellant, after dismissing the appeal he had lodged to fault findings of the High Court given on December 14, last year.

“We are satisfied that the charge of rape was proved against the appellant beyond reasonable doubt.

Therefore, the appeal is without merit and it is dismissed in its entirety,” they declared in their judgment delivered in Mwanza recently.

During hearing the appeal, the appellant had contended, among others, that the evidence on record and the law applicable does not support his conviction and that the age of the victim of rape, who was a student at Kassa Secondary School was not proved.

In their judgment dated October 18, 2016, however, the justices of the appeals court said they were satisfied that the victim (name withheld) was a cred-ible witness whose testimonial account revealed how she was ravished by the appellant at Sumayi Hotel instead of being taken to school as promised.

The victim’s evidence shows that she recalled that while in Shinyanga Region with her par-ents she was once possessed by demonic attacks and the appellant prayed for her in his church and she was eventually healed.

Sometimes in December 2013 when she was on school va-cation, the appellant agreed that she reside at his home until the school reopened on January 13, 2014.

During that time, the victim was given tuition lessons by the daughter of the appellant.On January 13, 2014, the ap-pellant called the mother of the victim and told her that he would take the girl to school in Mwanza on January 17, 2014.

On that as-surance, the mother informed her brother on the scheduled arrival of the daughter on that day and she gave him the number of the appellant.

However, despite the brother making follow-ups, the appellant kept on promising that the daugh-ter will be arriving on January 17, 2014.

On the same day, the brother inquired and the headmis-tress of Kassa School confirmed that the daughter did not sleep at the school.

The brother did not see the daughter until the following day with breaking news that she was raped by the appellant.

She re-counted to have left Shinyanga for Mwanza together with the ap-pellant and his two sons.

The ap-pellant initially dropped the two boys at their school.

He promised that he would take her to the school on the same day.

However, the appellant in-stead diverted the route to Sumayi Hotel and left the daughter there.

At around 23.00 hours, the appel-lant resurfaced, carrying food for her.

The appellant then went to the bathroom, which was in the same room.

He came out shortly later wearing a white singlet and yellow shorts and he proposed to make love with the daughter, who declined.

Thereafter, the ap-pellant forced the daughter to un-dress before he raped her.

The victim did not raise any alarm because the appellant had threatened to kill her.

She slept in the same room with the appellant until the following morning when he advised her to tell her parents that she had slept at Kassa Sec-ondary School.

From the predicament she found herself in, the victim trav-elled to Magu where she told her uncle that she slept at Sumayi Hotel where Bishop Mwombeki forced her to have sexual in-tercourse with him.

The uncle directed her to go back to her mother in Shinyanga where she revealed the episode.

The matter was reported to the police, leading to the arrest of the appellant and his prosecution.

In his defence, the appellant had denied the charge, alleging that he knew the victim as he is the one who prayed for her when she was possessed by demons.