The Appellant was charged with the offence of Rape contrary to sections 130 and 131 of the Penal Code as amended by section 5 of the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, No. 4 of 1998. The Appellant’s plea was recorded as “It is true” and entered as guilty. The Appellant was a first offender and was fifteen-year-old on the day he was convicted and sentenced to serve life imprisonment, ostensibly because the victim was aged eight years.
The Appellant was aggrieved by the sentence imposed on him. He preferred an appeal to the High Court of Tanzania against both conviction and sentence. The appeal was dismissed. He later filed this appeal arguing that the plea was equivocal, use of the words ‘carnal knowledge’ and ‘found in the act’ were technical terms that he did not understand.
The Respondent did not support the sentence as the sentence for first time sex offender aged fifteen years was corporal punishment.