The accused in 1952-53 underwent training at Peramiho nurses’ school near Songea. After leaving he chose a different career, but kept a syringe, a needle and some poisonous drugs. On a visit to Kibaha, he was invited to see a child who was ill with a stomach complaint. The accused gave him two injections, of penicillin and of chloroquine. The child died from shock consequent on the injection, possibly due to an allergic reaction of penicillin. The accused was charge with manslaughter.
Held: The accused was convicted of manslaughter on his own plea and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. In passing sentence, the court remarked. “The accused ….. should have known better. He is clearly not in
the class of an uneducated bush doctor. The evidence … shows that he was holding himself out to be a qualified doctor …. The fact that the parents of the
child went to his as a person with a reputation for curing would indicate that he was practicing as a doctor. This type of activity must be stopped. I am conscious that it is unlikely that the accused will attempt this practice again but I think nonetheless that he must be punished since this type of conduct is
not at all uncommon and the public must be made to realise that it will not be tolerated”.
