Abubakar s/o Hamisi v. R. (PC) Crim. App. 35-D-71; 29/4/71; Mwakasendo Ag. J.

Abubakar s/o Hamisi v. R. (PC) Crim. App. 35-D-71; 29/4/71; Mwakasendo Ag. J.

The appellant was charged before a Primary Court of stealing eight heads of cattle. He was acquitted but then the Magistrate ordered that he pays five heads of cattle and Shs. 82/- to complainant. The appellant appealed against this order but his appeal was dismissed by the District court.

            Held: (1) “I can find no authority whatsoever which empowers a Magistrate to convert a Criminal Case into a civil one. The Procedure to be followed in the trial of criminal cases is clearly laid down in the Magistrates’ Act 1963; the Third Schedule ……. If at the end of the case the Magistrate was of the vie, as indeed he was, that no offence of cattle theft had been disclosed by the evidence but that on the facts a civil suit might lie, he should have acquitted the appellant of the offence charged and advised the complainant to seek his legal remedies by civil suit.” (2) Order of Primary Court set aside; Parties may pursue their rights by way of civil suit.