Murder suspects and the law: a case study of protracted murder proceedings in Dar es Salaam region

Murder suspects are not granted bail when charges for that offense are preferred against them at police stations or in courts of law. They are confined in pathetic conditions in prisons where accommodation, medical and dietary facilities are poor. For example, by March 1990, Keko prison in Dar es Salaam region was holding roughly 400% of its capacity of inmates. And during the first three months of 1990, 16 prisoners at Keko and Ukonga prisons, in that region died due to what is mainly attributed to the pathetic prison conditions considered to be unfit for human beings. Liberties of murder suspects can be safeguarded if they are not confined in pathetic prison conditions for durations longer than what is necessary. Police investigators, whom I interviewed in Dar es Salaam region, put it that murder investigations delay for a long time mainly due to hurdles they encounter before they obtain post-mortem reports, Government chemist’s reports or ballistic experts’ reports. But when I probed at several places in Dar es Salaam region where the said reports are processed, I found out that reports of that kind are prepared expeditiously by experts or officials in their respective offices or laboratories. From 1985, various efforts were made in Tanzania to deal with the problem of long delayed criminal cases. Some of those cases, especially murder, concern persons who have been languishing in remand prisons for a long time. Outstanding efforts of that kind were made by the legislature and judiciary through provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act, NO.9 OF 1085, THE accelerated Trials and Disposal of Cases Rules, Government Notice No.192 of 1988 and the Chief Justice’s Case Flow Management Circular, No.2 of 1987. But those efforts have assisted to speed up the disposal of criminal cases, except those of murder. Murder proceedings have continued to take long durations during and after investigations. In order to safeguard liberties of safe guard liberties of murder suspects, the said salient efforts should be applied in a manner which shall speed up the disposal of their respective murder proceedings. Protracted murder proceedings have sometimes led to irreparable consequences like when the suspects pass away before their respective cases are disposed of. An outstanding example of such consequences is Dar es Salaam region and Dar es Salaam High Court zone where I recorded two and sixteen murder cases respectively to have abated between 1982 and 1989, when the suspects passed away, before their respective cases were disposed of. In order to alleviate hardships of murder suspects who languish in pathetic prison conditions for a long time, it is recommended that the police should not spend a lot of time investigating matters which are not in dispute or which are irrelevant to the proceedings. And murder suspects should be discharged subject to appeal or revision of failure of the prosecution to make prima facie cases at the preliminary inquiries. It is further recommended that the Criminal Procedure Act should provide for the Case Flow Management Committees to participate in recommending how to speed up long delayed cases. Officers making reports or recommendations in murder cases should be represented in the said committees. In fact most of the suspects in murder proceedings are ultimately found innocent and set free if they don’t die before their long delayed cases are disposed of. It follows that the said recommendations shall, if implemented, start a crusade for liberties of murder suspects in Tanzania.