Dar es Salaam. The High Court’s Dar es Salaam Main Registry has sentenced Ms Greenadia Isaya, alias Lulu, to death by hanging for the murder of her landlord’s six-year-old grandchild, Elivira Eliud.
The incident occurred on April 2, 2025, in Kimara Temboni, Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam.
Ms Isaya was charged with murder under Section 196 of the Penal Code. To prove its case, the prosecution called 10 witnesses and tendered four exhibits.
Delivering judgment on August 28, 2026, Judge Bahati Salema ruled that the prosecution had proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
The court based its finding on the convict's extrajudicial confession, oral admissions made to police officers, and corroborating circumstantial evidence.
The incident
The victim’s grandmother, Ms Davina Daniel, the landlord, testified as the third prosecution witness.
She told the court that she entered the room and found the child’s body on a mattress with a deep neck wound, surrounded by blood splatters and a knife nearby.
A post-mortem examination confirmed that the child died from massive blood loss caused by a severe sharp-force injury that severed major blood vessels.
The fourth witness, local leader Bakari Hamisi, testified to seeing the child's body on the mattress in a pool of blood.
The deceased’s father, Mr Eliud Dominick, testified that he travelled from Mbeya to identify his daughter’s body at Mloganzila Hospital on April 4, 2025, where he observed a large wound on the right side of her neck.
According to the prosecution, the convict surrendered to police shortly after the incident, reported killing the child, and led officers to the scene.
In addition to her oral admission, prosecution evidence showed she voluntarily signed a caution statement confessing to the crime.
Defence
In her defence, Ms Isaya denied killing the child or issuing any caution or extrajudicial confession statements.
She testified that she was at home resting on her day off when the incident allegedly occurred, though she acknowledged knowing the child as a co-resident.
Ruling
Judge Salema dismissed the defence, stating that it failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case.
“The defence side has not raised any doubt regarding the prosecution's case. Therefore, I find that all essential elements of the offence of murder have been proved without any doubt,” ruled Judge Salema.
“After careful consideration of the evidence from both sides, the exhibits, the discrepancies identified in the testimony, and the applicable law, I am satisfied that Elivira died from an unlawful act committed by Greenadia,” she added.
Judge Salema noted that the convict intentionally inflicted the fatal neck injury with a sharp object, fully aware that death or grievous bodily harm would result.
Convicting Ms Isaya under Section 196 of the Penal Code, the judge noted that the law provides a mandatory sentence for murder and accordingly sentenced her to suffer death by hanging.
