Indonesian suffers appeal defeat in Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. Indonesian Mychel Adriano Takahindengeng serving a life sentence in Tanzania for drug smuggling has failed in his attempt to get the sentence overturned.

Three Justices of the Court of Appeal unanimously rejected all seven grounds of his appeal, saying the case against him was proved beyond reasonable doubt. He can still apply for judicial review in the highest court of the land, failure of which would mean he could spend the rest of his life in jail.

Takahindengeng was arrested at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in August, 2012 shortly before departure after security officers at the airport raised suspicion at his luggage and subjected it to screening machine where suspicious images were detected.

Initially, Takahindengeng turned down instruction to open the bag until a security officer forced a physical search of the bag where four packets of what was later confirmed by Chief Government Chemist (CGC) to be cocaine hydrochloride were retrieved.

He was later sentenced to life sentence by the High Court in December 2019 and was now challenging the sentence.The Indonesian citizen, prosecuted the appeal himself without legal representation.

He argued that the drugs that were tendered in court as exhibits did not have evidential value because the officers who allegedly seized the substances did not issue a receipt acknowledging the seizure as per section 38 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Act.

He further argued that being experienced officials permanently stationed at the JNIA, the arresting officers ought to have the necessary documents with them all the time for any unexpected use.

According to the Indonesian, the three prosecution were unreliable because they issued contradictory testimonies.

Senior state attorneys, Janethreza Kitaly and Ms Annunsiatha Leopold who represented the Republic conceded that no search order, a certificate of seizure and a receipt to prove those facts was issued.

They however argued that, the search and seizure were an emergency because authorities had no prior knowledge that anyone suspected to be carrying drugs would be turning up at the airport.

Justices of appeal, Shaban Lila, Ignas Kitusi and Lilian Mashaka sided with state lawyers that the arrest and seizure of the suspect was an emergency.

“The fact that the three security officers did not have the necessary documents in hand, does not render the search and seizure anyhow not an emergency one. It is our conclusion that the search was an emergency,” said the judges.

The judges further concluded that the ownership of the bag that was staffed with the drugs, the search and seizure of the bag were proved by the arresting officers and by the appellant’s own conduct.