'Baba Jukwa' suspect back in court today

A HARARE magistrate is today expected to hand down his ruling on an application for refusal of further remand by The Sunday Mail Editor Edmund Kudzayi and his brother Philip in the alleged terrorism case.

Edmund and Phillip appeared in court last week before magistrate Milton Serima and through their lawyer made an application for refusal of further remand arguing they have been on remand for a long time without going to trial.

The State led by Sharon Mashavira opposed the application on the basis that the investigating officer in the case left the country for United States of America to meet the officials of Facebook and Google to aid their case. Serima is expected to rule on whether the pair should remain on remand or not pending their trial.

In their application, Edmund and Phillip, who are facing charges of subversion and undermining the authority of the President through the Baba Jukwa Facebook account, accused the state of taking them for a ride before challenging the state to produce proof showing that indeed Assistant Commissioner Makedenge left the country for USA.

Counsel for the two accused Rubaya of Rubaya Chatambudza Legal Practitioners said the state should produce evidence that their investigator is indeed abroad: "The state should have just produced a cabinet authority which shows that Makedenge is in the United States. As of now I don't want to say that state is lying and at the same time I don't want to believe that she is telling the truth. We might be talking of a Makedenge who is in the country. We will insist that the state is taking us for a ride. The state was overzealous when these two initially appeared in court and the way they handled the matter appeared as if their trial would commence the following day but now the steam has gone away. Let us give the state all the time in the world to investigate, but the accused persons should be removed from remand first."

In response Mashavira said that the pair's trial had not been delayed long enough to warrant refusal of further remand.

"Your worship, their application is misplaced, considering that the accused persons were only arrested on June 24 and they have been on remand for only three months, which is contrary to the rule of practice for the accused to be on remand for a reasonable period of time for them to demand a trial date," she said.

"Assistant Commissioner Crispen Makedenge has already left for USA and will be back early next week. For now we are waiting for his return hence we cannot do anything as far as the issue of trial is concerned," she said.