News / National
Mamombe, Chimbiri ruling postponed
09 Sep 2022 at 14:55hrs | Views
CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) members Joana Mamombe and Cecilia Chimbiri's ruling in an application for discharge has been postponed to Monday after the deputy chief Magistrate Faith Mushure failed to turn up.
Mamombe and Chimbiri are being accused of faking their abduction in 2020 in a bid to soil President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration.
The two applied for discharge after the State closed its case last month through their lawyer Alec Muchadehama who submitted that the State failed to prove a prima facie case against his clients.
Speaking to journalists after the postponement, the accused persons' lawyer Alec Muchadehama said they were not happy with that.
"The court was supposed to give a ruling in an application for discharge at the close of the state case that we made in writing, but the magistrate was unavailable, so the matter had to be remanded to Monday for the magistrate to give her ruling.
"We were unavailable on Monday, so were the accused persons, so we had proposed that the matter be remanded to Thursday 15 September, but the state said that the matter should be remanded to Monday and insisted despite our protestations so what they simply did was to go along with what the court said, and we are not happy on that score," Muchadehama said.
Chimbiri and Mamombe's trial started two months ago in a fast tracked manner and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) called 10 witnesses who testified against the two.
According to their duo's lawyers, the evidence which was presented was too shallow and there is nothing to convict on.
Mamombe and Chimbiri are being accused of faking their abduction in 2020 in a bid to soil President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration.
The two applied for discharge after the State closed its case last month through their lawyer Alec Muchadehama who submitted that the State failed to prove a prima facie case against his clients.
Speaking to journalists after the postponement, the accused persons' lawyer Alec Muchadehama said they were not happy with that.
"The court was supposed to give a ruling in an application for discharge at the close of the state case that we made in writing, but the magistrate was unavailable, so the matter had to be remanded to Monday for the magistrate to give her ruling.
"We were unavailable on Monday, so were the accused persons, so we had proposed that the matter be remanded to Thursday 15 September, but the state said that the matter should be remanded to Monday and insisted despite our protestations so what they simply did was to go along with what the court said, and we are not happy on that score," Muchadehama said.
Chimbiri and Mamombe's trial started two months ago in a fast tracked manner and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) called 10 witnesses who testified against the two.
According to their duo's lawyers, the evidence which was presented was too shallow and there is nothing to convict on.
Source - NewZimbabwe
