MWINYI JUMA KUSHINDA V. REPUBLIC

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

Mwinyi Juma Kushinda, the appellant, was charged, tried and convicted of two counts, namely, robbery with violence contrary to section 296 (2) of the Penal Code, and indecent assault on a female, contrary to section 144 (1) of the same code. He was thereafter sentenced to the mandatory death penalty on the first count, and 10 years imprisonment with 3 strokes of the cane in the second count "to run consecutively". His first appeal to the superior court was dismissed and hence the present appeal.

We pause here, to consider the propriety of the manner in which the sentences were ordered to run. Section 14 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, in pertinent part, provides as follows:-

"14 (1) Subject to subsection (3), when a person is convicted at o ne trial of two or more distinct offenses, the court may sentence him for those offenses, to the several punishments prescribed therefor ...; and those punishments when consisting of imprisonment shall commence the one after …