Monday 11 May 2020

JUDGE'S SON FREED


 THE son of High Court Judge Justice Garainesu Mawadze, who is accused of murdering a cellphone dealer in Harare early this year, was last week granted $3 000 bail after spending over a month in custody.

Munyaradzi Mawadze (20) is being charged along with his two accomplices, Elvin Dongo Saungweme (22) and Dellon David Balani (22).

They stand accused of killing Million Ncube by slitting his throat with a knife after robbing him of three iphone Promax 11 cellphones.

Granting Munyaradzi bail, Justice Webster Chinamora found no compelling reasons to treat the young man inversely from his accomplices that were recently granted the same relief on the unchanged charge. He ordered Munyaradzi to deposit $3 000 with the Clerk of Court, Harare Magistrate’s Court as bail.
  
He was also ordered to continue to reside at No 3169 Prospect, Waterfalls, Harare and not interfere with witnesses or investigation.

Further, Munyaradzi is required to report three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at Waterfalls Police Station, Harare, until the matter is finalised.

The court found the reasons submitted in opposition to bail contradicted the evidence led from the investigating officer Detective Sergeant Terence Muunze in court exposing notable shortcomings in the State case. The State argued that Munyaradzi was likely to abscond as its case was strengthened by overwhelming evidence, said Justice Chinamora.

However, what emerged from Det Serg Muunze’s evidence and against the Form 242 is that Munyaradzi was linked to neither the suspected murder weapon nor the deceased’s phone, which were recovered from Saungweme and Balani. In addition, the court found that evidence given before the judge revealed that it was not Munyaradzi who led the police to the deceased’s body. Moreover, he was only linked to the murder after forensic tests on the blood stains on his clothes. 

To weaken the State’s opposition of bail, Munyaradzi’s co-accused were granted bail by the same court notwithstanding the knife and the deceased’s phone linking them to the crime.

Justice Chinamora said an argument could equally be made that the Honda Accord and the blood stains connected Munyaradzi to the murder, but the question to be posed is: does that establish a point of departure or simply puts all three accused persons in the same bracket?

“My answer is that nothing sets them apart. I find no supportable basis for treating the applicant differently from his co-accused.

“It is astounding that despite conceding that no basis for distinction was evident in the Form 242, the investigating officer steadfastly maintained opposition to bail.”

Since no evidence was put before the court to elevate Munyaradzi’s alleged participation in the crime to a greater level than the other two, or to show that he posed a heightened risk to the administration of justice, Justice Chinamora was not convinced to set apart the three suspects. Herald



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