miscarriage of justice.2° The Court finds that this is not the case in the instant
matter.
81. The Court also notes that the Court of Appeal
upheld
the
lower courts’
determinations on the credibility of the Prosecution witnesses PW1,
and PW?3. The PW1
PW2,
was the victim, PW2 was the victim’s friend who claims
to have witnessed the rape and PW3 was the neighbour whom the Applicant
claimed fabricated the case against him because ofa disagreement she had
with him. The Court notes that the Court of Appeal found no reason for it to
conclude that the three (3) witnesses colluded to incriminate the Applicant.
82. The Court further notes that the Court of Appeal examined the Applicant's
alibi that, on the material day, the Applicant was outside the area where the
crime was committed and he did not return until about 7:05 p.m. The crime
was
allegedly committed
after 5:00 p.m.
The
Court of Appeal
upheld
the
findings of the lower courts that, although the Applicant had been outside
the area of the crime, by the time he left the house
of his alibi witness,
a
primary court magistrate, he would still have had time to arrive at the scene
of the crime, since he had a bicycle and the distance was not far.
83. The Court recalls that “a fair trial that requires the imposition of a sentence
in a criminal offence, and in particular, a heavy prison sentence, should be
based on strong and credible evidence”.2
In the instant case, the Court is
of the view that nothing on the record shows that the evidence on which the
domestic courts relied to convict the Applicant was not solid or credible.
84. In view of the aforesaid, the Court accordingly considers that the Applicant's
right to a fair trial provided for in Article 7(1) of the Charter has not been
violated,
as the
conviction
was
based
circumstances of the crime were clarified.
20 Ibid.
21 Mohamed Abubakari v Tanzania (merits), § 174.
22
on
sufficient evidence
and
the