News / Religion
Methodist Church reverend acquitted
16 Apr 2016 at 07:08hrs | Views
A REVEREND with Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, Gladman Chauya, who was accused of raping a female congregant, was last Friday acquitted of the charges when he appeared before Rusape regional magistrate, Livingstone Chipadza.
Manica Post reported that scores of relieved Methodist Church in Zimbabwe members danced in jubilation at Mutare Magistrates' Courts just after Chauya's acquittal.
Representing Chauya were Mutare lawyers, Innocent Mandikate and Mr Justin Fusire, while Malvern Musarurwa represented the State.
In passing his sentence, Chipadza said the complainant's two witnesses' testimonies were so contradictory that they cast a doubt to whether any of them were ever informed of the alleged incident or not.
He termed the contradictory as "discrepancy".
Chipadza said one of the witnesses, Superintendant Florence Marume, who is also a senior member in the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe as well as in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, was expected to initiate investigations and do something to have the matter reported early.
In this matter, the complainant made a report a year later after the alleged rape had taken place.
"The witness, Florence Marume did not even initiate investigations and yet she testified that on various occasions she was interacting with the victim.
"There appears to be machinations between the two witnesses against the accused.
"Their testimonies are both fallacious since they differ from what is in the State outline.
"Both the witnesses' conduct after receiving the report from the victim leaves a lot to be desired. They gave different versions and so one will obviously wonder which of the two versions is true."
He said it also raised eyebrows on why the complainant a 35-year-old woman did not tell her mother or sisters of the alleged rape matter, but confided in Ndebele, a male church elder who stays in Sakubva while she stays in Dangamvura.
"That just proves that it was church politics as Chauya testified in his defence."
The court also questioned the authenticity of the audio tapes of the phone calls that were played in court.
Chipadza said it had been the State's duty to prove that the phone calls had been between Chauya and the victim's number and bring in a voice expert, but it failed to do so.
"The State should have furnished the court with a printout on the conversations from the service provider and a voice expert should have been brought to court to prove the authenticity of the tapes, but nothing was done. The State was supposed to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the conversations between the two were not mere assumptions," he said.
The State, however, represented by Malvern Musarurwa, said it would appeal against the acquittal.
Manica Post reported that scores of relieved Methodist Church in Zimbabwe members danced in jubilation at Mutare Magistrates' Courts just after Chauya's acquittal.
Representing Chauya were Mutare lawyers, Innocent Mandikate and Mr Justin Fusire, while Malvern Musarurwa represented the State.
In passing his sentence, Chipadza said the complainant's two witnesses' testimonies were so contradictory that they cast a doubt to whether any of them were ever informed of the alleged incident or not.
He termed the contradictory as "discrepancy".
Chipadza said one of the witnesses, Superintendant Florence Marume, who is also a senior member in the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe as well as in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, was expected to initiate investigations and do something to have the matter reported early.
In this matter, the complainant made a report a year later after the alleged rape had taken place.
"The witness, Florence Marume did not even initiate investigations and yet she testified that on various occasions she was interacting with the victim.
"There appears to be machinations between the two witnesses against the accused.
"Their testimonies are both fallacious since they differ from what is in the State outline.
"Both the witnesses' conduct after receiving the report from the victim leaves a lot to be desired. They gave different versions and so one will obviously wonder which of the two versions is true."
He said it also raised eyebrows on why the complainant a 35-year-old woman did not tell her mother or sisters of the alleged rape matter, but confided in Ndebele, a male church elder who stays in Sakubva while she stays in Dangamvura.
"That just proves that it was church politics as Chauya testified in his defence."
The court also questioned the authenticity of the audio tapes of the phone calls that were played in court.
Chipadza said it had been the State's duty to prove that the phone calls had been between Chauya and the victim's number and bring in a voice expert, but it failed to do so.
"The State should have furnished the court with a printout on the conversations from the service provider and a voice expert should have been brought to court to prove the authenticity of the tapes, but nothing was done. The State was supposed to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the conversations between the two were not mere assumptions," he said.
The State, however, represented by Malvern Musarurwa, said it would appeal against the acquittal.
Source - Manicapost
