Kidevu Msese v. R., Crim. App. 227-M-67, 26/7/67, Cross, J.

Kidevu Msese v. R., Crim. App. 227-M-67, 26/7/67, Cross, J.

The accused were convicted of office-breaking, on a charge that they had broken into a service station in Kigoma on the night of 22/23^rd October, 1966. At the same trial, two other persons were convicted of breaking into the same service station on the night of the 17/18^th October 1966.

            Held: (1) Because the appellants were not concerned in the transaction which was the subject of the charge against the other accused persons, the charge against them should not have been joined in the same information, and the trials should not have proceeded together. (Crim. Proc. Code, s. 137). (2) This defect is not curable under Criminal Procedure Code section 346, “since it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the appellants were prejudiced by their joint trial.” The trial was therefore a nullity. (3) As there was “sufficient indication” that one appellant was in fact guilty as charged, re-trial was ordered for that appellant only.