Prosecution ends testimony in case against Ponda
Sheikh Ponda exchanges is greeted by his wife before the hearing of his case at the Resident Magistrate’s Court in Morogoro recently. PHOTO| FILE
What you need to know:
The last prosecution witness was Juma Koroto, a police officer from the office of the Regional Crime Office (RCO) who investigated the case.
Morogoro. Prosecution in the criminal case facing controversial Muslim cleric, Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda, yesterday finalised presentation of their testimonies at the Morogoro Resident Magistrate’s Court.
The case which is presided over by magistrate Mary Moyo, will now proceed with hearing from the defence side.
The last prosecution witness was Juma Koroto, a police officer from the office of the Regional Crime Office (RCO) who investigated the case.
Led by State Attorney Benard Kongola, the witness alleged that on August 11, 2013, a file numbered; Moro/IR/4473/2013, was handed to him by Jafart Kibona, the then Morogoro Regional Crime Officer (RCO).
He told the court that the dossier had documents regarding incitement charges leveled against Sheikh Ponda, which he allegedly committed on August 10, 2013, at K’ndege Primary School grounds in Morogoro Municipality.
“Upon receiving the dossier I started to investigate the matter, including questioning some people who heard the words uttered by Sheikh Ponda,” said the official.
Reiterating: “I finally forwarded the file to the Attorney General (AG) for further review which was later brought back to me with three charges: disobeying a court order, uttering words intended to damage people’s faith and influencing people to commit an offence.”
According to the prosecution, Sheikh Ponda appeared before Morogoro Resident Magistrate’s Court on Aug. 19, 2013 to answer three charges.
After the prosecution’s final submission, the defence led by counsel Juma Nasoro asked the witness some questions including whether Sheikh Ponda was questioned when he was arrested as well as who was the claimant in the case between the United Republic of Tanzania and the former RCO, Mr Jafert Kibona. The witness said the defendant was not questioned because he declined.
He also clarified that the complainant in the case was former RCO Kibona although the case was under the United Republic. However, the defence asked the court to give them copies of all the case’s documents for facilitating their defence against their client. The court accepted the defence’s plea.
