Ex-US Congressman refuses to enter plea in Zim court

The lawyer representing former United States Congressman for Chicago Melvin Jay Reynolds who is facing charges of overstaying in the country and possession of p*rnographic material said he was having difficulties in convincing his client to admit to breaching the immigration laws.
Reynolds who came into Zimbabwe last year purporting to be a middleman for foreign investors in the tourism industry, appeared in court today before Mr Tendai Mahwe.
According to the Herald, Reynolds's lawyer Mr Arthur Gurira notified the court of his intentions to make an application challenging his client's placement on remand in respect of the charge of possessing p*rnographic material.
On the charges of overstaying in the country, Mr Gurira sought postponement of the matter to Friday for a possible plea recording.
However Mr Mahwe queried why the defence was taking long to wind up the matter.
"Mr Lawyer why is it taking long to record the plea, can we not just do it now and finalise the matter?"
Mr Gurira told the court that he was having a torrid time in explaining the essential elements of the charges to Reynolds who seemed not to fully understand them. "I myself do not have any problem with that, but your worship I'm being patient and diligent enough to fully explain the nature of these allegations to the accused person to make him understand what he will be pleading to.
"In a nut shell your worship I will only be able to proceed after I have been given proper and specific instructions.
"My own attitude would be that we plead to contravening the immigration laws and get it off the way but my client seems not to understand this," he said.
Mr Tendai Mahwe rolled over the matter to Friday when Mr Gurira is expected to make an application challenging placement on remand in-terms of section 26 (2) of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act.
Reynolds is also expected to plead to charges of illegally staying in the country.
Prosecutor Miss Sharon Mashavira told the court that Reynolds had pictures of men and women having sex on his iPhone 4s.
Reynolds is also charged with contravening Section 29(1)(a) as read with Section 29(2)(a) of the Immigration Act (Chapter 4:02).
It is alleged that on November 13 last year Reynolds entered Zimbabwe through Plumtree Border Post on a business visa valid until November 27, 2013.
Reynolds did not extend his stay in the country since December 10 and did not return to the United States at the expiry of his permit.
The court heard that for the period, Reynolds was staying in the country illegally.