A RESIDENT of Korogwe District in Tanga Region, Mathias Barua, will remain behind bars for 30 years for having unnatural sex with a cow.
This follows the decision by the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal he had lodged to challenge the sentence imposed on him by a district court. “The appeal is devoid of merits.
The sentence of 30 years imprisonment imposed is the bare minimum. The appeal is dismissed in its entirety,” Justices Bernard Luanda, Ibrahim Juma and Stella Mugasha ruled.
During hearing of the appeal, Barua, the appellant, had alleged that the prosecution ought to have tendered the cow to support his plea to be unequivocal and that his plea was not supported by the PF3 of a veterinary officer.
In their judgment, however, the justices pointed out that it was shown in the record that Barua, on his own free will, pleaded guilty to the offence unequivocally then that is enough to support the charge with which he was charged.
“Tendering of exhibit, be it an object or document, is not a legal requirement though it is desirable to do so to ground a conviction,” they said. According to the justices, the conviction against the appellant was properly entered since on his own volition pleaded guilty to the offence.
They noted that the trial district court properly followed the procedure of taking the plea of guilty of an accused person as correctly observed by the High Court and the facts adduced established the ingredients of the offence.
The appellant was charged in the District Court of Korogwe with unnatural offence. It was alleged that on March 2009, at around 02.10 hours at Mgobe Village in Korogwe District, Tanga Region, the appellant had carnal knowledge of a cow.
When the appellant was called on to plead to the charge, he denied. A plea of not guilty was entered. But when the hearing of the case took off, the appellant changed his mind and informed the court that he was confessing to have committed the offence and prayed for forgiveness.
