Ladislas v. R. Crim. App. 417-M-70; 16/10/70; El-Kindy Ag. J.

 

Ladislas v. R. Crim. App. 417-M-70; 16/10/70; El-Kindy Ag. J.

The appellant was charged with and convicted of being in possession of uncustomed goods c/s. 147 (d) (iii) and 155 A of the East African Customs Management Act. At the trial, the local customs officer who had been in Tanzania for only 1¹/₂ years alleged that the goods (vitenges) were manufactured in Congo because he had seen people from Congo wearing such vetenges. On the basis of this evidence the magistrate found that the vitenges were Congo manufactured.

            Held: (1) “Apart from the serious misdirection which I shall refer to, this evidence is far from being adequate to find such a fact. The vitenges did not have any mark to show that they were made in Congo. The fact that the customs officer said that he had seen women fro the Congo wearing similar vitenges did not necessarily mean that the vitenges found in possession of appellant were not manufactured in this country and therefore they must have been imported from Congo. It was not safe to rely on the knowledge of the local customs officer in a remote station like Kigoma to be knowledgeable about the vitenges which are manufactured in this country and those not manufactured in this country. His evidence should not have given much weight. The customs officer’s opinion in the circumstances did not establish that the vitenges mist have been made in Congo and therefore imported. It is notorious fact that mass manufactured goods could resemble each other closely. There was, therefore, no justification for the learned magistrate’s finding on this issue. (2) “The learned magistrate misdirected himself when he said that “…… all lawful imports go through Kigoma port where there is a customs officer and not Ujiji”. The fact that Kigoma was the authoritative port wshere a customs officer was stationed did not necessarily mean that that the rest of the imports from Ujiji port were unlawful per se. goods could be imported through Ujiji and then the importer could pay all customs duty at the customs office anywhere, including Kigoma.” (3) Appeal allowed.