News / Regional
Victoria Falls community welcomes victim friendly court
14 Oct 2010 at 10:04hrs | Views
THE Victoria Falls community has welcomed the proposed opening of a Victim Friendly Court circuit at the magistrate's court by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Victoria Falls magistrate's court has been identified as one of the 14 courts in the country to have a VFC together with courts such as Nkayi, Plumtree and Binga.
Previously, witnesses and accused persons were referred to Hwange regional court for cases to be heard thereby making matters take long to be concluded as witnesses struggled to find means to get to the court.
Residents and stakeholders said the court will help ease pressure from Hwange while reducing backlogs of uncompleted cases.
The officer-in-charge of Victoria Falls Police Station, Inspector Mangwiro said currently there was a backlog of unsolved cases dating back to 2004.
"There are about 20 cases that have not been completed some dating back to 2004. This is due to the fact that cases were referred to Hwange District Court several times and witnesses ended up failing to appear in court because of different reasons.
"Some have even relocated and we are having problems in locating them.
"So we believe that there is need to open a circuit here so that local cases are dealt with quickly," he said.
He said the police were dealing with at least three cases every month, adding that some cases were going unreported.
Mrs Ndangariro Moyo, a child protection specialist with Unicef, said they had decided to partner the Ministry of Justice to protect the vulnerable children especially children.
"Children have the right to justice, health, education, water and sanitation and because of that they need special courts that are friendly so that they are not intimidated.
"That is why we support the opening of a VFC in Victoria Falls," she said.
Mr Chris Muvhiringi, a lawyer at Dube and Company, said the decentralisation of VFC was a noble idea that needed support from all stakeholders including the private sector.
There are 60 courts in the country and 17 VFC. The ministry is working on opening 14 others to bring the number of VFC to 31.
Victoria Falls magistrate's court has been identified as one of the 14 courts in the country to have a VFC together with courts such as Nkayi, Plumtree and Binga.
Previously, witnesses and accused persons were referred to Hwange regional court for cases to be heard thereby making matters take long to be concluded as witnesses struggled to find means to get to the court.
Residents and stakeholders said the court will help ease pressure from Hwange while reducing backlogs of uncompleted cases.
The officer-in-charge of Victoria Falls Police Station, Inspector Mangwiro said currently there was a backlog of unsolved cases dating back to 2004.
"There are about 20 cases that have not been completed some dating back to 2004. This is due to the fact that cases were referred to Hwange District Court several times and witnesses ended up failing to appear in court because of different reasons.
"Some have even relocated and we are having problems in locating them.
"So we believe that there is need to open a circuit here so that local cases are dealt with quickly," he said.
He said the police were dealing with at least three cases every month, adding that some cases were going unreported.
Mrs Ndangariro Moyo, a child protection specialist with Unicef, said they had decided to partner the Ministry of Justice to protect the vulnerable children especially children.
"Children have the right to justice, health, education, water and sanitation and because of that they need special courts that are friendly so that they are not intimidated.
"That is why we support the opening of a VFC in Victoria Falls," she said.
Mr Chris Muvhiringi, a lawyer at Dube and Company, said the decentralisation of VFC was a noble idea that needed support from all stakeholders including the private sector.
There are 60 courts in the country and 17 VFC. The ministry is working on opening 14 others to bring the number of VFC to 31.
Source - chronicle
