Twine Phiri acquitted

FORMER Premier Soccer League chairman, Twine Phiri, who was recently accused of defaulting paying his ex-wife maintenance backdated to 2014, was yesterday acquitted of the charges by a Harare magistrate after a full trial.

Harare magistrate, Amanda Muridzo ruled that the State failed to prove a prima facie case against Phiri, saying the evidence he produced proved he had no case to answer.
Phiri's former wife, Keresiya had accused her ex-husband of neglecting his children saying he had not been paying maintenance and school fees and had accumulated $13 000 arrears.

But in his response, Phiri told the court his ex-wife was ungrateful since he had been paying for every need of his children. Phiri later produced evidence of receipts paid for his children's school fees, which Keresiya was not aware of.

Phiri told court that he had been paying the fees, but his ex-wife's motive to bring him to court on a daily basis was influenced by malice, hatred and to tarnish his image and dignity in society.

In her ruling Muridzo said Keresiya's evidence was not credible as the documents from the school and the testimony of the school representative corroborated Phiri's evidence.

The school representatives had told the court that they reached a personal agreement with Phiri over his children's school fees, an agreement excluded Keresiya's involvement.

Lovemore Siyamunda appeared for the State.