The matter was referred to this court by the scrutinizing regional magistrate in terms of s 58 (3)(b) of the Magistrates Court Act [Chapter 7:10]. She raised issue with the procedure that was adopted by the trial court in light of the fact that the accused is a certified psychiatric patient.
The background of the case is that, on 28 September 2022 the accused requested food from his mother. She in turn asked him to be patient because his supper was not yet ready for consumption as she was still preparing it. Angered by his mother’s response the accused assaulted... More
The two accused persons were jointly charged with four counts of stock theft. They pleaded not guilty to all the counts but were convicted of all the counts at the end of a full trial. More
The accused is charged with the murder of his wife which allegedly occurred in the course of domestic violence on 3 October 2008. Dr N Gonzalez examined the deceased’s remains on 9 October 2008 where upon he compiled a post mortem report. More
The accused and Ngonidzashe Mutsvene were jointly charged with the crime of fraud as defined in s 136(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform )Act [Chapter 9:23] More
The accused was however eventually apprehended and taken to the police station. At the police station he again assaulted one of his fellow employees who had taken him there.
Arising from the above facts the accused was charged with one count of theft and 3 counts of common assault. The trial magistrate treated all the 4 counts as one for the purposes of sentence. He then sentenced the accused to pay a fine of $100 000.00 or in default of payment 20 days imprisonment.
The learned scrutinising regional magistrate took issue with the manner the trial magistrate grouped all the... More
