Arusha. The High Court Sub-Registry in Morogoro has acquitted former police corporal Shadidu Kago, who was serving a 20-year prison sentence for sabotaging essential services by cutting copper cables along the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), stealing railway property and trespassing in a restricted area.
The court quashed his conviction and ordered his immediate release after identifying serious contradictions in the prosecution’s evidence, including discrepancies over the date of the incident and the type of cables seized, unreliable identification procedures, an uncorroborated caution statement and unexplained delays in bringing him before the court.
Court records show that Corporal Kago was charged alongside two co-accused persons on six counts.
The first five counts applied exclusively to him, while the sixth involved his co-accused.
The first count was sabotage of essential services, whereby the prosecution alleged that on May 18, 2024, at Kingolwira in Morogoro Region, the appellant cut copper cables along the SGR line between kilometres 181 and 183, belonging to the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC).
The alleged act was said to have endangered public safety by potentially disrupting power supply and causing train derailments.
The second count accused him of endangering railway safety under the Railways Act, while the third alleged that he caused TRC a financial loss exceeding Sh22.9 million.
The fourth count involved stealing railway property valued at more than Sh9.17 million, while the fifth accused him of trespassing in a restricted SGR zone at kilometre 194 on May 19, 2024, without authorisation.
The sixth count charged his co-accused with unlawful possession of TRC copper cables in Dar es Salaam.
At the conclusion of the initial trial, the Morogoro Resident Magistrate’s Court acquitted Corporal Kago on the second and third counts for lack of sufficient evidence.
However, it convicted him on the first, fourth and fifth counts, sentencing him to 20 years in prison for sabotage of essential services, alongside fines and alternative custodial sentences for theft and trespassing.
His two co-accused were acquitted on the sixth count after the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Dissatisfied with the decision, Corporal Kago lodged an appeal on 15 grounds, arguing that the trial magistrate had misappraised the evidence, relied on a repudiated caution statement, admitted unreliable identification evidence and failed to reconcile major discrepancies between the charge sheet and prosecution testimony regarding the dates, weights and composition of the stolen items.
Opposing the appeal, the State Attorney maintained that there were no fundamental inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
The prosecution argued that the differences in the exhibits had already been addressed by the lower court and that confusion over the suspect’s position during the identification parade did not invalidate the identification evidence.
In her ruling, High Court Judge Aisha Sinda consolidated the 15 grounds of appeal into key legal issues concerning conflicting evidence, the admissibility of the caution statement, the reliability of identification made at night and procedural delays.
The court found that the prosecution evidence contained irreconcilable contradictions over the date of the alleged offence, with witnesses giving conflicting accounts of whether it occurred on May 18 or 19, 2024.
It also identified serious unresolved discrepancies in the chemical composition and description of the seized cables.
While some exhibits described them as pure copper, others referred to an aluminium-silver alloy.
The judge further found that the identification parade was defective, with witnesses contradicting one another over whether the suspect stood in the fourth or fifth position.
The visual identification was also considered weak because it was made at night.
In addition, the caution statement relied upon by the trial court was legally flawed, had subsequently been repudiated and lacked independent physical or documentary evidence to corroborate it.
In concluding the judgment, Judge Sinda said the cumulative effect of the substantial errors raised reasonable doubt that could not be remedied.
She held that the trial magistrate had erred in law by finding that the prosecution had discharged its burden of proof.
Consequently, the High Court allowed the appeal in its entirety, quashed all the convictions and sentences, and ordered Corporal Kago’s immediate release unless he was being lawfully held on other grounds.