TANZANIA: MAN TO BE HANGED FOR MURDERING HIS GIRLFRIEND

March 23, 2025:

The High Court of Tanzania in Moshi on March 10, 2025 sentenced 32-year-old Erasto Mollel to death by hanging for the murder of his girlfriend, Josephine Mngara, 30.
Mollel was found guilty of striking Mngara on the head with a hoe before setting her body on fire in an abandoned house.
The court, however, acquitted the second accused, Samweli Mchaki, after the prosecution failed to prove his involvement in the crime.
Delivering the verdict on March 10, Judge Adrian Kilimi ruled that the evidence presented against Mollel was sufficient to convict him.
The case was first heard on February 24, 2025, with the prosecution led by state attorneys Kambarage Samson, Frank Ong’eng’a, and Grace Kabu. The defence team comprised lawyers Alfredy Sindato Silayo and Lilian Mushi.
Initially, both men were charged with premeditated murder, accused of killing Mngara in Mtemboni, Himo Town, Moshi District, Kilimanjaro Region, on February 19, 2023, before burning her remains.
According to the prosecution, Mollel and Mngara had been living together as a couple before the fatal attack.