A RESIDENT of Dodoma, Amosi Lesiwa, is to remain behind bars for 30 years for incest by male after he was found guilty of having sexual intercourse with his own daughter aged 14 years.
This follows the decision of the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal the father had lodged to challenge both conviction of incest and the sentence provided against him.
During the trial, Lesiwa, the appellant, had pleaded guilty to the charge. But later on, in his first appeal before the High Court, the appellant claimed that his plea of guilty was incomplete.
“Our inevitable conclusion is that the plea of guilty was neither based on misapprehension of the ingredients of section 158 (1) of the Penal Code nor misunderstanding of the facts read out to the appellant,” Justices Engela Kileo, Katherine Oriyo and Ibrahim Juma ruled.
According to them, there was no doubt in their minds that the appellant made his unequivocal plea of guilty after understanding the essential ingredients of the offence of incest by male as disclosed in the charge sheet and narrated in the facts of the case facing him.
“We are in full agreement with (prosecution) that the plea, facts presented before the trial court and the appellant’s mitigation are all consistent with an unequivocal plea of guilty. The appeal against conviction and sentence is hereby dismissed in its entirety,” they declared.
The prosecution had submitted that the facts which were read out to the appellant and which he accepted with slight variation disclosed to him the essential ingredients of incest by male. The facts disclosed how he entered the room where his daughter was sleeping.
When his daughter woke up and began to shout, the appellant warned her with death should she make further noise. The appellant, thereafter, proceeded to undress her trousers and made sexual intercourse with his daughter.
When he finished, the appellant left for his own room. The prosecution had told the court that the appellant committed the offence on June 16, 2014 at about 1.00 am at Mkoka Village in Kongwa District, Dodoma Region.
The following morning, the victim went to her religious leader and reported what had happened to her the previous night. It was at that point in time that the matter was reported to the police, leading to the arrest and subsequent arraignment of the appellant. When called to enter plea of the charge, the appellant said, “It is true from my own heart, I do not want to waste the court’s time.”
On the bases of the admitted facts, the trial magistrate accordingly convicted the appellant on his own plea of guilty. After presenting mitigation praying for lenience, the appellant was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
He was not satisfied by such verdict and unsuccessfully appealed to the High Court. The appellant had claimed, among others, that his plea before the trial court was imperfect, ambiguous or unfinished and should not have counted as a plea of guilty.
The High Court dismissed the appeal, ruling that only appeal against legality of sentence could be entertained and not sentence.
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