Lecturer who demanded sex in order to give good marks jailed

Samson Mahimbo, a 69-year-old college lecturer from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, has been sentenced to three years in jail, with an alternative of Tsh5 million (Ksh220, 000) fine, after he pleaded guilty to demanding sex from his student in order to award her good marks in a supplementary exam.

The ruling was delivered on Tuesday, November 26, at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam.

Delivering the judgement, resident magistrate Huruma Shaidi said sex-for-grades arrangement leads to the churning out of unqualified professionals.

The Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court was told on October 9, that Samson Mahimbo was on January 11, 2017 caught naked in a lodging facility preparing to engage in sexual intercourse with his student.

Mahimbo’s student was a Second-Year first semester learner at the National Institute of Transport (NIT) in Dar es Salaam.

The student had failed her main exam in transport administrations, and was scheduled to re-sit the paper on January 5, 2017, the court was told.

NIT lawyer, Faraja Salamba, told the Kisutu Court on October 9, that Mahimbo abused his powers by soliciting sex from one Victoria in exchange for good marks that he would award the student.

Salamba narrated that on January 11, 2017, the suspect called Victoria on phone and asked to meet her at an entertainment joint known as Shani Bar in Mwenge, North-West of Dar es Salaam.

“When they met, the learner was given the supplementary exam, which she sat for. Mahimbo had carried with him to the date a marking scheme. After ‘sitting the exam’, Mahimbo marked Victoria’s paper and gave her a score of 67 per cent. The two, thereafter, left Shani Bar for a lodging facility known as Camp David within the same area,” the college’s lawyer, Salamba, told the court as quoted by Global Publishers.

Salamba further claimed that the two, while at Camp David, binged on alcohol before booking a room, where Mahimbo was nabbed naked preparing to engage in sexual intercourse with the learner.

“The suspect had begun hugging and caressing the student before attempting to undress her, when they heard a knock on the door. Victoria opened the door and police officers, who had been tipped of the lecturer’s plan, arrested him. His clothes lay on the table at the time,” said Salamba.

The suspect was first arraigned on August 14, 2018.

During a subsequent arraignment in early 2019, Mahimbo denied that he attempted to solicit sexual favours in exchange for good marks, contrary to the anti-graft laws in Tanzania.

The prosecution said it had lined up six witnesses to prove their case against the suspect.

Mahimbo, on the other hand, told the court that he would rely on four witnesses to prove that he was innocent.

However, on November 11 during a subsequent arraignment, the suspect changed tune on his earlier plea, this time around, admitting he demanded sex from his student in exchange for good grades.