Tanzania, Aug. 30 -- Arusha. The Court of Appeal has sentenced Steven Lihanjala to life imprisonment after finding that lower courts erred by imposing and upholding a 30-year jail term for raping a five-year-old child.

Mr Lihanjala had appealed against a decision of the Dar es Salaam High Court, which upheld the sentence imposed by the Kibaha District Court after finding him guilty of rape.

He was accused of committing the offence several times in May 2022 at Misugusugu in Kibaha District, Coast Region, where he lived with his wife and the child, who was his stepdaughter.

The decision was delivered on Friday, August 28, 2026, by a three-judge panel comprising Justices Lugano Mwandambo, Paul Ngwembe and Rabia Mohamed.

The Court dismiss...