HIGH Court Senior Judge, Justice Nicholas Mathonsi has
upheld a ruling by the Gweru Magistrate Court to fine a police officer,
Detective Constable Gift Gorongonya $400 for shooting a soldier following an
altercation.
Gorongonya appeared before Gweru magistrate, Ms Mildred
Matuvi, in August last year and was fined $400 for the offence.
Gorongonya appealed against the ruling at the High Court.
However, Justice Mathonsi on last Tuesday overruled the appeal and upheld the
ruling by Ms Matuvi.
The State’s case was that in February last year Gorongonya,
who was in the company of his colleague, Constable Chrispen Musiiwa, was
assaulting a soldier along Harare Road when a Five Brigade bound Zimbabwe
National Army bus stopped and Corporal Zico Shumba together with other soldiers
disembarked and tried to restrain Gorongonya.
The complainant allegedly disarmed Cst Musiiwa who was
armed with a pistol and removed the magazine. The court heard that Gorongonya
then drew a pistol and fired some shots before hitting Corporal Shumba on the
leg. The two police officers then rushed to Gweru Central Police Station.
Corporal Shumba was rushed to Gweru Provincial Hospital (GPH) where he received
treatment. Corporal Shumba is said to have sustained a fractured leg as a result
of the shooting.
Through his lawyer, Mr Arshiel Mugiya of Mugiya and
Macharaga Law Chambers, Gorongonya alleged that he shot Corporal Shumba while
in the line of duty after he tried to obstruct him from arresting a suspect. Mr
Mugiya had applied for the court to place Gorongonya off remand arguing that he
a constitutional mandate of enforcing the law and where there is resistance he
can use force. Sunday News
0 comments:
Post a Comment