87.As regards the credibility of the witnesses, the Court notes that the national
courts carefully examined the circumstances of the crime, ruled out any risk of
error and concluded that the Applicant was indeed identified as the perpetrator
of the alleged crime. The Court considers that the assessment of the facts or
evidence by the domestic courts reveals no manifest error nor did it result in
any
miscarriage
of justice for the Applicant.
It accordingly
dismisses the
Applicant's allegation that the testimony regarding the visual identification was
marred by irregularities.
88. For this reason, the Court holds in conclusion that there has been no violation
of Article 7(1)(b) of the Charter as regards the issue of visual identification and
the related testimonies and consequently, dismisses the allegation.
ii.
Alleged denial of opportunity to challenge the prosecution’s
evidence
89.The Applicant alleges that, in the first case, the Respondent State had not
properly
notified
him
of the exhibits
it would
tender for him to have the
opportunity to contest their admission. The Applicant contends that, despite
this, the District Magistrate
Court admitted
Exhibits
1 to 5 tendered
by the
Prosecution. The Applicant argues that, by these acts, the Respondent State
violated
his fundamental
rights enshrined
in Article 26(1)
and
(2) of the
Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.
90.The Applicant further states that he made multiple requests for the witness
statements to be disclosed to him so that he could effectively prepare his
defence and that none of his requests was fulfilled until the end of the trial
process.
He avers that he raised this lack of disclosure of evidence in his
Memorandum
of Appeal in Criminal Appeal No. 45 of 2006. The Respondent
State admitted that it did not disclose the witness statements, and that the Court
of Appeal had held that this omission did not constitute a ground for appeal.
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