The Appellant was charged with and convicted, on his own
plea of guilty, of defilement of a two-year-old child. Although he pleaded
guilty to the charge in fact the charge was made on a repealed law. He was
sentenced by the trial court to twenty years’ imprisonment. The case was subjected
to revisional proceedings by the High Court at Moshi. Exercising its revisional
powers the High Court revised the sentence upwards to life imprisonment but
left the conviction intact. Aggrieved by the decision of the High Court the
Appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal which decided to exercise revisional
jurisdiction under section 4 (2) of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, as amended
by Act Number 17 of 1993.