60. The Court notes that the guarantees contained in Article 7 of the Charter
are meant to ensure fairness to all individuals that come into contact with
the criminal justice system. As the Court has noted, Article 7 of the Charter
can be read together with Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the ICCPR”), particularly in
respect of States that have ratified the ICCPR.11 It is thus the duty of every
State to ensure that the protections contained in Article 7 of the Charter are
observed during the conduct of trials.
61. The Court further notes that, in the present Application, the crux of the
Applicants’ contention relates to the determination of the weight of the
Cannabis Sativa that was impounded.
62. The Court’s perusal of the record reveals that, before the Court of Appeal,
the Applicants’ first ground of appeal challenged the discrepancies in the
weight of the Cannabis Sativa which had been tended into evidence as
Exhibit P2. On page 8 of the Court of Appeal’s judgment, it is stated as
follows:
When we showed Mr Akaro the original record of appeal which indicates the
weight of exhibit P2 to be 317 268.69 which also appears in trial court’s
judgment, he abandoned the ground of appeal contesting the discrepancy.
63. The Court of Appeal also noted, at page 13 of its judgment:
… that the discrepancy in the weight of exhibit P2 raised by assessors is well
addressed in the charge sheet itself, evidence of PW9 and detailed report of
the Government Chemist who weighted and made chemical analysis of each
and every sack. The exercise by the Government Chemist enabled every
sack to be weighed and tested separately and eventually total weight was
gathered. Moreover, at page 42 of the record, it is the evidence of PW2 that
at the time of arrest exhibit P2 was not weighted. The weighing was done by
11
Wilfred Onyango Nganyi and Others v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (18 March 2016) 1 AfCLR
507, § 165. The Respondent State became a State party to the ICCPR on 11 June 1976.
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