Gumbura who was initially sentenced to 40 years in prison
and later reduced to 20 years has been advised to approach the Supreme Court
for relief.
The former RGM Independent End Time Message leader was
found guilty on four counts of rape and one count of illegally possessing
pornographic material in 2014.
Gumbura still argues on appeal that his sentencing was
harsh. In his ruling, Justice Tawanda Chitapi said it was proper if Gumbura had
approached the Supreme Court.
“In my respectful view, it is only jurisprudentially proper
that a Supreme Court Judge should be the one to determine the bail pending
appeal where the appeal relates to a judgment of the High Court granted on
appeal.
“I must come to the conclusion that the interests of
justice and procedural and substantive fairness dictate that I defer to a judge
of the Supreme Court to hear the bail application in terms of section 123 (1)
(a) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
“Consequently the application for bail pending appeal is
struck off the roll. The applicant (Gumbura) if advised may direct application
for determination by a judge of the Supreme Court,” reads the decision.
Gumbura was convicted by a Harare magistrate on October 4,
2017 and on his conviction was sentenced to fifty years’ imprisonment before
noting an appeal against both the conviction and sentence.
His appeal against conviction was later dismissed whilst
that of his sentence succeeded and reduced to 20 years. The clergyman was not
satisfied with the decision prompting him to take his matter further.
However, Gumbura who is now representing himself delayed
making his initial appeal for the 20-year sentence.
On September 7, 2020, Gumbura filed a chamber application
for condonation after his late filing to the Supreme Court. H Metro
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