News / Local
Walter Magaya free to take rape case to ConCourt, magistrate rules
20 Dec 2016 at 03:18hrs | Views
A Harare magistrate Vongai Muchuchuti on Monday told rape accused
Prophet Walter Magaya that he was free to approach the Constitutional
Court (ConCourt) to challenge his indictment for trial.
Recently, the alleged rape victim — a Masters student at the Midlands State University voluntarily withdrew the charges claiming she had fabricated the matter.
According to Muchuchuti, there is no longer in dispute that the matter had been withdrawn and that there was no evidence from the State to challenge the fact that the withdrawal was done freely and voluntarily.
"It is ordered that the application for referral to the Constitutional Court of the question set out in paragraph (3.7) of the supporting affidavit be and is, hereby, granted.
"The following questions are referred to the Constitutional Court for its determination: Whether in light of the complainant's withdrawal of her complainant and her indication that the substance of the complaint is false, the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority and/or the Acting Prosecutor-General, to bring applicant to trial amounts to harassment, is in breach of the protection of the law guarantee as encapsulated in section 56(1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and, is, therefore, an abuse of the court process and is void," she said.
The issue to have Magaya's case withdrawn from the courts first became a concern on November 15 when the presiding magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe found withdrawal affidavits slipped into his office with no one to account for their delivery.
In those documents, she claimed that she was being frustrated with threats from unnamed individuals who wanted to shoot her if she did not testify in a manner that would nail Magaya.
Chikwekwe then noted in court that he could not comment on the documents as they had not been procedurally presented before him.
Recently, the alleged rape victim — a Masters student at the Midlands State University voluntarily withdrew the charges claiming she had fabricated the matter.
According to Muchuchuti, there is no longer in dispute that the matter had been withdrawn and that there was no evidence from the State to challenge the fact that the withdrawal was done freely and voluntarily.
"It is ordered that the application for referral to the Constitutional Court of the question set out in paragraph (3.7) of the supporting affidavit be and is, hereby, granted.
"The following questions are referred to the Constitutional Court for its determination: Whether in light of the complainant's withdrawal of her complainant and her indication that the substance of the complaint is false, the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority and/or the Acting Prosecutor-General, to bring applicant to trial amounts to harassment, is in breach of the protection of the law guarantee as encapsulated in section 56(1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and, is, therefore, an abuse of the court process and is void," she said.
The issue to have Magaya's case withdrawn from the courts first became a concern on November 15 when the presiding magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe found withdrawal affidavits slipped into his office with no one to account for their delivery.
In those documents, she claimed that she was being frustrated with threats from unnamed individuals who wanted to shoot her if she did not testify in a manner that would nail Magaya.
Chikwekwe then noted in court that he could not comment on the documents as they had not been procedurally presented before him.
Source - Byo24News
