Court warns Halima Mdee over bail
The Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam, yesterday, warned Kawe Member of Parliament (MP), Halima Mdee for jumping bail in a trial she is accused of assaulting acting City Director, Teresia Mbando during mayoral elections last year.
“I have warned you several times on this matter. Your warnings are now over,” Principal Resident Magistrate Huruma Shaidi told the lawmaker from opposition Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) after attending the criminal trial.
The Magistrate expressed concern over the unbecoming trend by the lawmaker of failing to attend court sessions wherever required to do so, with unjustifiable reasons. He cited an example of last Friday when the court was forced to issue an arrest warrant against her.
Mdee, armed with copies of visa, passport and other travel documents, claimed that during the last court session she had left for United States of America for official duties and she had instructed her lawyer to report to the court on such developments.
When asked to give account on the matter, advocate Hekima Mwesigwa threw the ball to his co-lawyer Peter Kibatala, who was given Mdee’s documents to be presented to court, but he could not make it because he had a long hearing session before another magistrate.
Magistrate Shaidi was, however, quick to point out that the procedures required to be followed were well known, as such documents would have been filed to the registry and not to look for him personally. “You’re required to follow the procedure.
Otherwise, you would not understand me well,” he warned. Before giving such a warning, the Magistrate received evidence from Inspector of Police Eugene Mwampondela, who named Mdee and businessman Rafii Juma, as the ones who had confronted Ms Mbando after the cancellation of the election process.
Juma is among accused persons in the trial. Led by State Attorney Florentina Sumawe, for the Prosecution, the witness told the court that after announcement of cancellation of the elections, he saw Rafii Juma moving from his seat to the high table and went to attack the acting Dar es Salaam City Director.
Ms Mbando is currently Dar es Salaam Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS). The witness explained that he saw other people following him, leading to disruption inside the election venue. According to the witness, he also saw Mdee moving from where she was and confronted the Director, allowing others to snatch important documents for the meeting Ms Mbando was holding.
When cross-examined by defence counsel Mwesigwa on who had beaten the director inside the meeting hall, the senior police officer failed to identify any of the accused persons in the dock. What he remembered was that four police officers rescued the director from further attacks.
In the trial, other accused persons apart from Mdee and Juma are Ukonga legislator, Waitara Mwita Mwikwambe; Ubungo lawmaker, Saed Kubenea; Ephreim Kinyafu and Manase John Njema, who are councillors of Kimara and Tabata Kimanga, respectively.
The accused persons are charged with one count of assault, causing actual bodily harm to Ms Mbando. They allegedly committed the offence on February 27, last year, at Karimjee Hall in Ilala District.