The record of proceedings in this case was placed before me on review in terms of s 57 (1) (a) of the Magistrates Court Act [Chapter 7:10]. The record shows that the accused appeared before the local resident magistrate at Mutawatawa, Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe on 27 April, 2018 facing two charges of assault.
On the first count, the accused was charged with assault as defined in s 89 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act [Chapter 9:23]. The charge alleged that the accused unlawfully assaulted the complainant at Chivore business centre, Uzumba, on 18 April, 2018 at... More
The issue in this matter which should have exercised the mind of the trial court is whether the sexual act between the accused and the complainant was consensual. While the learned Regional Magistrate properly identified this issue she seemed to have somehow allowed her mind to wander rather aimlessly and failed to properly analyse the evidence placed before her. The judgment by the learned Regional Magistrate is rather perfunctory. More
The accused was convicted of theft as defined in section 113 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, [Chapter 9:23]. She was convicted on 7 March 2018 by the magistrate at Bindura.
The facts of the matter in brief were that the accused a 27 year old female adult and the complainant, a 31 year old female adult were aunt and niece. They resided together at their house at Masasa Farm Mazowe. On 16 February, 2018 the complainant left the house and went about her business. The accused remained at the house. The accused took advantage of... More
: The accused a 45 year old man was charged with the rape of a 16 year old girl as defined in s 65 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. He denied the charge. After a full trial he was convicted and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment of which 3 years were suspended on the usual conditions. More
Judicial officers like magistrates should always appreciate that it is not every complaint forwarded to them which should be simply forwarded to this court ostensibly to be resolved by way of this court’s inherent review powers. More
This matter was placed before me for review. The trial Magistrate in the covering note indicated that he made an error in sentencing the accused, he exceeded the sentence provided for in the statute. More
At the close of the case for the state we dismissed the accused’s application for discharge made in terms of s 198(3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07]. We gave our reasons ex tempore. The accused had raised the defence of self-defence and our view was that the accused’s version of events should be properly ventilated during his defence case to properly ascertain if indeed he could not be convicted of the charge of murder or any other permissible verdict. In short it was necessary for the accused to lay in his evidence the factual basis of... More
