The scrutinising Regional Magistrate has referred these three matters to the Registrar for guidance. Although they were dealt with by two different magistrates, they involve similar facts and circumstances. More
Apart from remedying the court a quo`s misdirection, this judgment restates three basic matters. Firstly, the procedure to follow in taking a plea of guilty in the magistrates` court in terms of sections 271 (2) (b) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [ Chapter 9:07] (“the CPE Act”). More
This is perhaps a classical case of how not to conduct a trial based on a plea of guilty in terms of s 271 (2) (b) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Cap.9:07]. In this case the accused a 17 year old juvenile had consensual sexual intercourse with a fellow juvenile in contravention of s 70 (1) of the (Criminal Law codification and Reform) Act [Cap. 9:23].The complainant’s age was assessed by a medical practitioner to be between 14 ½ and 15 ½. More
The accused was convicted of contravening s 368 (1) of the Mines and Minerals Act, [Chapter 21:05] on 12 October, 2016 by the Senior Magistrate at Bindura Magistrate’s Court. He was sentenced to a mandatory prison term of 2 years. On review, I could not make out the handwriting of the magistrate. More
After losing some obscure musical instrument(s) described in the papers only as a speaker at his home in Chitungwiza, the offender Owen Katsande teamed up with his friends who were named during the proceedings but were not before the court. They rounded up a number of people on suspicion of having stolen the instrument(s) in question. All of their suspects were taken to Owen’s house which they had turned into a torture chamber. The offender and his goons finally cornered the deceased Robert Nyatsine who was the offender’s nephew. They pinned the theft on him and fatally assaulted him. In... More
