Mamombe and Chimbiri who are charged with publishing or
communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the State, are also denying that they
told their friends, lawyers or relatives that they had been abducted on May 13,
2020.
This is contrary to their earlier claims that they reached
their lawyers after they had been allegedly abducted. According to the State,
Mamombe and Chimbiri’s accomplice, Nestai Marova was interviewed on May 19,
2020and told one detective Chafa that she was abducted and tortured.
Marova is on the police wanted list after fleeing out of the
country to evade trial. Mamombe and Chimbiri were later interviewed on May 25,
2020.
The volte face is unfolding at the Magistrate Court where
experts have revealed that cell-phones believed to belong to the CCC activists
were active on Internet and various other social media platforms during the
time the two claimed were taken by police on their way to Harare and later
abducted and taken to an unknown destination where they alleged to have been
tortured before being dumped in Musana, Mashonaland Central province.
According to a State witness, the two mobile phone numbers
were said to be active browsing on Internet, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchart and
Instagram between 2:39pm and 10pm when Mamombe and Chimbiri claimed they were
in the hands of the police.
This was said by State witness Mr Tapera Christopher
Kazembe a spectrum manager at the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz).
He was testifying during the trial where Mamombe and
Chimbiri are alleged to have faked their abductions in May 2020.
Mr Kazembe, who once worked at TelOne and Econet before
working as a consultant at Ericson in the Diaspora was commenting on data
collected from Econet in relation to network usage.
He told the court that information obtained from such data
usage is correct and reliable.
“The information is taken from the Econet network including
date and time and some of us we let Econet update time automatically on our
cellphones.
“Econet is reasonably accurate. It may not be to the last
minute but normally time accurate and can be used by anybody,” he said.
But through their lawyer, the duo said they never
communicated with anyone.
“The accused persons will tell the court that they did not
at any stage tell any relative, friend or lawyer that they had been abducted.
This is a narrative being yarned by the police and the State in order to abuse
the accused.
“As it stands, there is an extant judgement of the High
Court in which a factual finding is made that the accused did not communicate
to any person that they had been abducted as is being alleged or at all.
“The accused will further tell the court that from the very
beginning of this matter, they have requested for particulars as to who they
communicated to and what the exact communication was.
“This request was denied many times. They are therefore
hamstrung in their defence and can only say that they did not communicate or
publish to any lawyer(s) that they had been abducted.
“They put the State to the strict proof of this allegation,
in particular they challenge the State to lead evidence from the lawyer(s) they
allege and produce proof of the communication they allege,” they said.
Mamombe and Chimbiri denied communicating with any of their
relatives over the alleged abduction.
“They did not communicate or publish to any friend(s) that
they had been abducted.
“They put the State to the strict proof of this allegation.
In particular, they challenge the State to lead evidence from the friend(s)
they allege and produce proof of the communication they allege,” they said.
The duo also said that none of the communications they made
at the material time was false or incited violence.
“None of their communications incites or promotes public
disorder or public violence or endangers public safety.
“None of their statements undermines public confidence in a
law enforcement agency, the prisons and correctional services or the defence forces
of Zimbabwe as alleged or at all.
“They challenge the State, not only to prove the alleged
communication, but also prove how it undermines public confidence in a law
enforcement agency, the prisons and correctional service or defence forces of
Zimbabwe,” they told the court.
Mamombe and Chimbiri claimed that the police forced them to
record their warned and cautioned statements when they were receiving treatment
in hospital. Herald
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