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Senior magistrate threatened to fix Zanu-PF youths?
19 Aug 2018 at 07:24hrs | Views
Three Zanu-PF youths accused of violence during primary elections in Mvuma have applied to have their case transferred to the Constitutional Court after accusing the presiding magistrate of threatening to fix them.
Dadirai Methie claimed before the court that former Mvuma Resident Magistrate Tayengwa Chibanda approached her outside the courts while she was doing community service for another case and told her that she had not been punished enough.
She claimed that Chibanda made the threat while her case of political violence was before him. Methie's lawyer Tinomudaishe Chinyoka of Gunje Legal Practitioners has since applied to have the case transferred from Mvuma to the Constitutional Court where he says that his clients would get fair hearing.
The accused are Dadirai Methie, Maidei Dume and Fanuel Thami
The three went before new Mvuma Resident Magistrate Tafadzwa Mhlanga two weeks ago and applied to have their case moved to Harare. Chibanda had since been transferred to Chinhoyi on promotion.
The three pleaded not guilty to assaulting Tremendous Musara who was campaigning for prominent Mvuma businessman Chrispen Thomu in his bid to represent Zanu-PF in primary elections.
Chinyoka told the court that sometime in 2017, Magistrate Chibanda approached Methie who was performing community service at the Mvuma Courts and told her that she had not been sufficiently punished.
The court heard that Methie was later transferred to Mvuma District Hospital to complete her community service following the incident, hence if found guilty, the incident might influence the trial magistrate on passing the sentence.
He further argued that Magistrate Chibanda should have recused himself from the matter because he resided at the same residential address with Musara's friend, Simon Ngundu. He argued that Musara frequently visited his friend, thereby interacting with the trial magistrate.
The case against the three is that on April 16, 2018 while campaigning for Prosper Machando who has since been elected MP for Chirumanzi-Zibagwe, they sang and chanted slogans at Spar Complex in Mvuma.
They vandalised a motor bike which was under the custody of Musara, the campaign manager of Thomu.
The motorbike had its gear box damaged.
On the same day, Thami, twisted Musara's hand while trying to get a cell phone which had videos of him chanting slogans at the supermarket. Musara sustained a swollen hand and filed a police report.
Dadirai Methie claimed before the court that former Mvuma Resident Magistrate Tayengwa Chibanda approached her outside the courts while she was doing community service for another case and told her that she had not been punished enough.
She claimed that Chibanda made the threat while her case of political violence was before him. Methie's lawyer Tinomudaishe Chinyoka of Gunje Legal Practitioners has since applied to have the case transferred from Mvuma to the Constitutional Court where he says that his clients would get fair hearing.
The accused are Dadirai Methie, Maidei Dume and Fanuel Thami
The three went before new Mvuma Resident Magistrate Tafadzwa Mhlanga two weeks ago and applied to have their case moved to Harare. Chibanda had since been transferred to Chinhoyi on promotion.
The three pleaded not guilty to assaulting Tremendous Musara who was campaigning for prominent Mvuma businessman Chrispen Thomu in his bid to represent Zanu-PF in primary elections.
The court heard that Methie was later transferred to Mvuma District Hospital to complete her community service following the incident, hence if found guilty, the incident might influence the trial magistrate on passing the sentence.
He further argued that Magistrate Chibanda should have recused himself from the matter because he resided at the same residential address with Musara's friend, Simon Ngundu. He argued that Musara frequently visited his friend, thereby interacting with the trial magistrate.
The case against the three is that on April 16, 2018 while campaigning for Prosper Machando who has since been elected MP for Chirumanzi-Zibagwe, they sang and chanted slogans at Spar Complex in Mvuma.
They vandalised a motor bike which was under the custody of Musara, the campaign manager of Thomu.
The motorbike had its gear box damaged.
On the same day, Thami, twisted Musara's hand while trying to get a cell phone which had videos of him chanting slogans at the supermarket. Musara sustained a swollen hand and filed a police report.
Source - masvingomirror
