The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) is
investigating circumstances leading to the release of a top Registrar General’s
Office staffer Gorden Tsuro from jail, amid complaints of an irregularity.
Tsuro, who was in 2012 jailed three years for attacking his
wife with an axe, unlawfully enjoyed freedom for seven years following the
dismissal of his criminal appeal until last year when The Herald unearthed the
scandal.
He was in November last year arrested and locked up in
prison, but a month later the prosecution consented to the reinstatement of his
2013 appeal.
The prosecution, in a space of days after reinstatement of
the appeal, again consented to Tsuro’s release on bail.
The Special Anti-Corruption Unit (SACU) last week asked
ZACC to investigate circumstances surrounding the release of Tsuro on bail,
saying the prosecution might have acted improperly.
This week, ZACC chairperson Justice Loice Matanda-Moyo
confirmed receipt of a complaint from SACU, saying investigations had already
begun.
“We have opened investigations into the matter”, said the
ZACC boss. Head of SACU, Mr Thabani Mpofu, last week wrote to Justice
Matanda-Moyo asking her to look into how an officer in the National Prosecution
Authority (NPA) consented to the reinstatement of Tsuro’s appeal and release on
bail after the appeal had been struck off the roll because he (Tsuro) had
missed deadlines to pursue his appeal.
The Herald exposed the irregularity last year after Tsuro,
who was sentenced to three years in jail in 2012 for attacking his wife with an
axe, had his appeal dismissed by the High Court in 2013 after he failed to
pursue the matter.
After the dismissal of the appeal, he was supposed to be
sent back to the magistrates’ court to be committed to prison to serve his
sentence, but he continued enjoying his freedom for six years with some
thinking he had been acquitted by the High Court.
He was only arrested and committed to prison at the end of
last year.
Investigations by The Herald revealed that Tsuro briefly
showed up at work upon his release this year and went into his office, much to
the surprise of his colleagues who thought he was serving jail time.
Authorities at the RG’s Office immediately suspended Tsuro
to allow them to have an appreciation of his case after they read in The Herald
that he had been committed to prison to serve his three-year-jail term.
Tsuro (49) was on June 26, 2012, convicted of seriously
injuring his wife, Ms Rosemary Charlie, after striking her with an axe during a
domestic dispute.
He was initially charged with attempted murder, but then
Harare regional magistrate Mr William Bhila found him guilty of assault with
intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
On the same date, Tsuro’s lawyers, Mupindu & Mugiya,
filed a notice of appeal against both conviction and sentence at the High
Court, but this was not pursued.
In terms of the law, such a dismissal of the appeal must be
followed by the issuance of a warrant of arrest to apprehend the convict and
commit him or her to prison. Herald
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