The accused’s counsel raised a preliminary point in his closing submissions that the accused, in this criminal trial, did not receive a fair trial because counsel had requested a postponement when the trial started on the 19th of October 2017. The correspondence on file indeed confirms he had received the file ahead of time and had written to the Registrar on the 25th of September confirming appointment as pro deo counsel. He had also requested that the accused be availed to take instructions from him so as to prepare his defence outline. The accused had not been availed. More
This record of proceedings was placed before me by the Registrar for review at the instance of the Chief Magistrate.
The circumstances giving rise to the request for review are as follows. The accused was charged with and convicted of theft of trust property as defined in s 113 (2)(d) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] on 27 February 2019. He was sentenced as follows:
“$200/3 months imprisonment. In addition, 2 months’ imprisonment wholly suspended on condition accused restitutes the complainant in the sum of $600 through the Clerk of Court Harare on or before 31... More
The accused, a 51 year old female villager of Chikara Village, Chief Nyamukoho, Mudzi was arraigned before the magistrate at Mutoko Court on 17 November, 2015. The accused was charged for contravening s 156 (1) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification & Reform) Act, [Chapter 9:23] which creates the offence of unlawful dealing in dangerous “Drugs”. It was alleged against her that she unlawfully cultivated 9 plants of dagga with an average height of 2 metres for the purpose of dealing in the said dagga. More
The three accused men are serving members of the Zimbabwe National Army. They face charges of murder. They all deny that they were in any way involved in the killing of one Blessward Shenje on 27 August 2015 in Rusape. More
This case is concerned with the proper wording of the sentence of “the passing of sentence”. The two accused persons jointly committed two counts of unlawful entry for which they were properly convicted on their pleas of guilty. They were correctly sentenced on 29 November 2010 to two disparate sentences on account of their different ages. The second accused, a juvenile aged 17 who was attending school, was found to have acted under the bad influence of his 30 year old uncle; the first accused. More
