This matter was placed before me on automatic review of proceedings presided over by the Senior Magistrate at Chegutu Magistrates Court on 20 April, 2017. The accused pleaded guilty before the said magistrate to a charge of assault as defined in s 89 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law (Codification & Reform) Act, [Chapter 9:23]. More
Differences between people have existed since time immemorial but it becomes worrisome when relations are thrown out of the window and those who are expected to live in neighbourliness turn to kill each other. The accused in this case was arraigned before this court on a charge of murder as defined in s 47 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] (the Code). The charge from which the allegations arose is that, on 24 October 2018 and at 19985 Stoneridge Park Waterfalls, Justice Matikinyidze (the accused) stabbed Elisha Mvurume (the deceased), who was his neighbour, with a... More
The proceedings in this matter would not have been referred to this court for review because the sentences imposed qualified the proceedings to be scrutinized by the Regional Magistrate in terms of s 58 of the Magistrates Court, [Chapter 7:10]. In terms of the said section, in proceedings where the accused appearing before the provincial court and has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment of between 3 and 12 months or a fine of between level 4 and 6, the record of proceedings is scrutinized by the regional magistrate. In terms of s 58 (3) (b) where the scrutinizing regional... More
The above matter was referred for review with the following comments:
“The record of proceedings was placed for review before the regional magistrate who noted that the trial magistrate had imposed two sentences which was said to be improper in the case of Chipwere HH 314-08.
The trial magistrate conceded that she had imposed two sentences.
May we be guided on the way forward?” More
The accused was convicted of contravening s 67 (1) (a) (i) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. He was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment of which 3 months’ imprisonment was suspended for 5 years on condition of good behavior. The remaining 12 months’ imprisonment was suspended on condition of performance of 420 hours of community service. More
