News / National
Mamombe, Chimbiri reject incriminating POTRAZ evidence
31 Mar 2022 at 18:07hrs | Views
CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) members Joana Mamombe and Cecilia Chimbiri have opposed the admission of fresh evidence by a Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) witness who had closed his testimony last week.
The two are accused of lying against the state after they allegedly faked an abduction.
They are currently on a fast tracked trial which had to continue with the exclusion of co-accused Netsai Marova who has since skipped the country.
The state had called a witness from POTRAZ Tapera Kazembe who, despite having finished giving evidence, was called again.
Through prosecutor Michael Reza, Kazembe tried to tender some photos showing different locations within Harare.
The state also produced call logs allegedly from Econet Zimbabwe and marked them annexures H and J which were rejected by the duo's lawyer Alec Muchadehama.
Muchadehama argued that the court cannot take Kazembe's new evidence because he is not even an expert in that department.
The lawyer said the documents can only be filed or created by experts not a manager from POTRAZ.
"The defence objects to the production of these documents because they are not even from POTRAZ and they are not deemed for the benefit of the public," said Muchadehama.
"These are documents that were produced under instructions from the police and they are not from POTRAZ."
Mamombe and Chimbiri also stand accused of staging a demonstration in breach of Covid-19 regulations.
The trial continues on April 4 2022.
Chief magistrate Faith Mushure is expected to hand down her ruling on the admissibility of the documents Friday.
The two are accused of lying against the state after they allegedly faked an abduction.
They are currently on a fast tracked trial which had to continue with the exclusion of co-accused Netsai Marova who has since skipped the country.
The state had called a witness from POTRAZ Tapera Kazembe who, despite having finished giving evidence, was called again.
Through prosecutor Michael Reza, Kazembe tried to tender some photos showing different locations within Harare.
The state also produced call logs allegedly from Econet Zimbabwe and marked them annexures H and J which were rejected by the duo's lawyer Alec Muchadehama.
Muchadehama argued that the court cannot take Kazembe's new evidence because he is not even an expert in that department.
The lawyer said the documents can only be filed or created by experts not a manager from POTRAZ.
"The defence objects to the production of these documents because they are not even from POTRAZ and they are not deemed for the benefit of the public," said Muchadehama.
"These are documents that were produced under instructions from the police and they are not from POTRAZ."
Mamombe and Chimbiri also stand accused of staging a demonstration in breach of Covid-19 regulations.
The trial continues on April 4 2022.
Chief magistrate Faith Mushure is expected to hand down her ruling on the admissibility of the documents Friday.
Source - NewZimbabwe
