The convicted person pleaded not guilty but was convicted on a charge of theft as defined in s 113 (1) (a) of The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Cap 9:23]. He was jointly charged with two others who were acquitted at the end of the trial. The record of proceedings was forwarded to a Regional Magistrate for scrutiny. It was placed before the Senior Regional Magistrate Harare, who raised issues of record keeping and compliance with the provisions of s 198 (6) and 199 (1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Cap 9:07] (The CP&E Act) with the... More
The two accused persons are brothers. They were jointly charged with the murder of Jokonia Choga Muunganirwa at Chemhanza Hill in Chevakadzi Resettlement Area in Bindura on 31 January 2010. They were alleged to have caused his death by assaulting him indiscriminately all over his body and stoning him on the ribs and head. More
The impunity of a cabal of 13 political zealots, the complicity of law enforcement agents, the lamentable misuse of the prosecutorial authority bestowed on public prosecutors and the disinterest of the trial court all rolled together is the epitome of all that should not happen in our criminal justice delivery system. This matter is a living example of an injustice allowed to take root because of a serious dereliction of duty by those tasked with the protection of law abiding citizens of this country and the punishment of offenders without fear or favour. More
The trial magistrate who dealt with all the above matters was discharged from the service before, in some cases, responding to the queries raised by the scrutinising Regional Magistrate. The records pertaining to these cases were retrieved from the trial magistrate’s office drawer in a plastic bag. The scrutinising Regional Magistrate has forwarded the records in question for remedial action on review. More
1. The accused aged 22 years old was properly convicted of the charge of robbery as defined in s 126(1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] by the learned magistrate sitting at Bindura Magistrates Court on 21 October 2022. The accused was sentenced as follows: More
