Acquitted drug dealer now faces life in prison

Dar es Salaam. A Dar es Salaam resident who was arraigned but later acquitted of drug trafficking charges is now facing life imprisonment after the Court of Appeal reversed High Court’s decision to set him free.

Akida Abdallah Banda was dramatically arrested in November 2016 at Itaga Street near the famous Ben Pub in Kinondoni area with over 70 kilograms of Canabis (bhang) and khat (mirungi).

He had already escaped the police before he was arrested after the car he allegedly used to flee hit a concrete wall just few meters from the pub.

Lady Justice Lilian Mashaka of the High Court set him free in December 2019 on the ground that prosecution had failed to establish chain of custody of the seized narcotics.

The judge also doubted credibility of two prosecution witnesses who testified on how the narcotics were retrieved from the car that was being driven by the accused.

The acquittal aggrieved the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who lodged an appeal in the highest court in 2020, arguing that the trial judge erred and misdirected herself in holding that the chain of custody of the seized drugs was not properly established.

The DPP also challenged the decision of the judge who drew a negative conclusion against him over failure to call witnesses who removed the accused from his car after hitting a wall fence.

Recently, three justices of appeal--- Jacob Mwambegele, Mary Levira and Panterine Kente---disagreed with the High Court’s decision to let Banda off the hook, saying the evidence produced by the DPP was sufficient to ground conviction.

“Having analysed the evidence on record, we are of the considered view that the case against the respondent was proved to the hilt to mount a conviction against him. The High Court Judge should have convicted the respondent (Banda).

“We are of the view that the chain of custody of exhibit P2 (seized narcotics) was properly established by oral account of witnesses even though the paper trail might have been weak. The chain of custody may be established by oral evidence,” said the justices.

The court has ordered immediate arrest of and brought before the High Court for sentencing.

Section 15 (3) and (iii) of the Drug Control and Enforcement Act, a person who traffics cannabis or khat weighing more than 50 kilograms commits an offence of trafficking narcotic and is liable to life imprisonment if convicted.

Chain of custody

Chain of custody is a process that tracks the movement of evidence through its collection, safeguarding, and analysis lifecycle by documenting each person who handled the evidence, the date and time it was collected or transferred, and the purpose for the transfer.

It is necessary that chain of custody is an unbroken trail without gaps or discrepancies in order to uphold the standards and requirements of the law,

The appeal court justices maintained that prosecution had managed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the seized narcotics were retrieved from the accused’s vehicle, taken to Oysterbay Police Station where it was handed to exhibit keeper before being sent to the Government Chemist for examination.

They were also satisfied that after examination by the Chief Government Chemist, the narcotics were taken back for custody until at a later stage when they were produced in court as evidence.