THE Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland, Erick
Ruwona, has filed a $500 0000 lawsuit against a church warden who instituted a
criminal case against him in September 2018 that resulted in the cleric being
arrested and arraigned before the courts on theft charges.
Along with four other senior church members who were
implicated in the scam, the bishop was acquitted of all charges after the State
failed to prove its case.
Through his lawyers, Maunga and Maanda and Associates, the
top cleric is now demanding damages from Joseph Mashingaidze on the basis that
he reported the case to the police yet he fully knew that he had not committed
the offence in question.
The bishop insists that Mashingaidze’s actions were only
meant to harass, embarrass and publicly humiliate him “in a greater scheme of
church politics that were playing out in the diocese by portraying him as a
corrupt senior cleric who would steal from the church and (therefore) not
worthy to hold the very position in the church”.
Mashingaidze, who resides at Number 36 Makoni Road Westlea
in Mutare, is employed as an administrator at Chipinge Town Council.
“Sometime in September 2018, the defendant (Mashingaidze) instituted
a criminal case against the plaintiff in which he was charged of theft of
property as defined in Section 113 (2) (d) of the Criminal Law Codification and
Reform Act Chapter 9:23.
“The property involved is an Isuzu KB200 truck owned by the
church and stationed at St Agnes Parish in Chikanga. Following the report by
the defendant, the plaintiff was arrested by members of the Anti-Corruption
Commission working jointly with officers from the Zimbabwe Republic Police. The
plaintiff was subsequently brought before the courts to answer charges of theft
of trust property at the instance of the defendant and was acquitted at the
close of the State’s case. At the time he instituted proceedings, the defendant
knew very well that the plaintiff had not committed the offence in question but
only meant to harass, embarrass and publicly humiliate the plaintiff. . .
“When trial commenced and the witnesses had been subjected
to cross examination by defence counsel, it became apparent to him that the
defendant was mistaken in his complaint. However, he persisted with the case
even when it became clearer to him that the plaintiff was wrongly charged. He
was made to unnecessarily incur direct expenses in engaging a lawyer to defend
a case which was never and parted with $2000 in legal fees.
“The defendant hereby demands that the defendant pays him
damages for malicious arrest and prosecution in the sum of $500 000 broken down
as $200 000 for malicious arrest and prosecution, $150 000 for the injury to
his dignity, $148 000 for defamation and $2 000 as legal fees,” reads the
summons.
A Mutare-based businessman, Samuel Magada, who was jointed
charged with the bishop and was also acquitted of the charges has also filed
for damages against Mashingaidze.
He is demanding $300 000. Magada said the prosecution
instigated by Mashingaidze was malicious because he had no reasonable grounds
or probable cause whatsoever to believe that the plaintiff had committed such
an offence.
“The actions of the defendant caused harm to the
plaintiff’s dignity and harmed his reputation as a businessman of noteworthy
and his standing in the eyes of peers, the general society in Mutare and
Anglicans world over who learnt through ecclesiastic communications that he was
facing such embarrassing charges,” reads his summons. Manica Post
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