Emmanuel Rwejuna v. R., Crim. App. 54-D-70; Hamlyn j.

Emmanuel Rwejuna  v. R., Crim. App. 54-D-70; Hamlyn j.

The accused was convicted in the District Court of Sumbawanga of offences of failing to pay a minimum wage to an employee and of failing to prepare and maintain a record of an oral contract; he was fined Shs. 250/- on the first count and Shs. 100/- on the second. The facts of the case concern the complainant – a girl named Priska Kilemba – who is about fifteen years old. She told the court that she had been engaged by the appellant to work for him as an ayah and that she commenced her duties on 1^st October, 1967, at a salary of Shs. 15/= a month. The minimum salary permitted in Sumbawanga for an employee of this sort is Shs. 86/65. the defence of the appellant was that the girl was not working for him at all but that she was in his house “just to learn good character” as he puts it. He maintains that there was no talk about salary at all, for she had no duties to perform at the appellant’s house.

            Held: (1) “This Court considers that the evidence before the lower court leaves no reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused and that the appeal is without substance. (2) “Sentences are reasonable, particularly in view of the fact that the accused is the Area Secretary of that District. The magistrate has noted this fact and has properly taken it into account in arriving at the appropriate sentence, the accused being a person who must be aware for the law governing matters of  this nature and also one to whom others will lock look as to behaviour and conduct.”