SHINYANGA: THE Court of Appeal Shinyanga Registry has ordered the immediate release of a traditional healer, Kulwa Kashiki, a resident of Shinyanga, who was imprisoned after being charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a government trophy.

Justices Winfrida Korosso, Zephrine Galeba, and Mustafa Ismail gave the order in their judgment delivered in Shinyanga recently after going through the appeal that Mr Kashiki lodged to oppose the ruling made by the Resident Magistrate's Court of Shinyanga in January 2021.

"Thus, having found the proceedings of the trial and first appellate courts to be a nullity, we quash the proceedings and judgment of the trial and first appellate courts," they ruled.

Furthermore, they stated: "We quash the conviction and set aside the conviction and sentence meted out to the appellant. In the circumstances, we order the immediate release of the appellant from custody unless otherwise held for other lawful purposes."

The justices noted from the record that this is the second appeal that the appellant has preferred in the court after his first appeal in the Resident Magistrate's Court of Shinyanga was unsuccessful.

They observed further that, in the way the consent was drafted, there was no clarity on the specific offence the prosecution of the appellant had been consented against, thus rendering it valueless.

The justices agreed with the parties that failure by the trial court to comply with the mandatory requirement imposed under the said provision vitiated the entire trial, hence rendering it, the proceedings, and the judgment nullity.

According to the prosecution, initially, the appellant was arraigned before the District Court of Shinyanga charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a government trophy contrary to sections 86(1) and (2) (c) (iii) of the Wildlife Conservation Act, No. 5 of 2009, read together with paragraph 14 of the First Schedule to and sections 57(1) and 60(2) of the Economic and Organised Crime Control Act (the EOCCA) in Economic Case No. 4 of 2017.

In the first count, it was alleged that on October 5, 2017, in Kahama District in Shinyanga, the appellant was found with one wildebeest tail valued at 650 US dollars.

For the second count, it was alleged that on the same day, time, and place as in the first count, the appellant was found with one piece of serval cat skin valued at 300 US dollars, without a permit from the Director of Wildlife.