The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Victor Kinambile
7 October 2008
Tabora — The proprietors and managers of two disco clubs in which 19 children died last week in Tabora were yesterday charged with murder.
The accused appeared before Tabora Resident Magistrate Issaya Arufan and were each charged with 19 counts of murder.
Those charged were Mr Shashkant Manji Patel, 32 the proprietor of Bubbles Club, and Mr Projestus Fidel, 48, who runs the OneTen Teck Disco, and their managers Jafari Mwiga, 38, and Vituko Adam Salala.
The victims either died of suffocation or were trampled to death while 16 others were seriously injured inside the Bubbles and OneTen Teck discos during Idd ul-Fitr celebrations.
The victims' names were read out in court as Veronic Maningu, Beatrice Makelele, Jacob Gerald, Salum Hamisi, Hadija Waziri, Rehema Moyo, Selemani Idd, Mrisho Selemani, Abdallah Rehani, Agatha Maningu and Paulina Emmanuel.
Others were Ramla Yenga, Mohamed Kapaya, Habiba Shaaban, Donald Kasela, Mwanahamisi Waziri, Philipo Haule, Ashura Jabiri and Yassin Rashid.
Hundreds of Tabora residents turned up to catch a glimpse of the accused as they were led into the courtroom under tight security.
The court heard that the accused jointly committed the offence on October 1 at around 5.30pm at the two disco halls located within the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) building in Tabora.
It was alleged that the accused murdered the victims while running their businesses during Idd celebrations. They were, however, not allowed to enter a plea as the court has no jurisdiction over murder cases.
The Tabora Resident Magistrate's Court will conduct committal proceedings before the case is transferred to the High Court for hearing. Police said investigations into the incident had been completed and the case was adjourned to October 20.
The Government has formed a probe team that is investigating circumstances that led to the incident.
President Jakaya Kikwete said while ordering the investigations that stern action would be taken against those found to have been responsible for the tragedy.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the halls were filled three times above their capacity.
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