Frank Buyanga, who snatched his five-year-old son from his
ex-girlfriend movie style last month, is now regarded as a fugitive from
justice after fleeing the country with the boy, Police Commissioner-General
Godwin Matanga has said.
Buyanga reportedly kidnapped the boy, who was in the
custody of his mother Ms Chantelle Muteswa, at Waterfalls Shopping Centre on
March 26, but the High Court ordered him to return the child to his mother
within 24 hours.
He did not obey the order. Having failed to comply with the
court order, Buyanga subsequently instructed his employee to file an
application on his behalf for a stay of execution of the High Court order
compelling him to surrender the child.
In the application, it is admitted Buyanga was outside the
country and that he could not comply with the court order because of Covid-19
travel bans and lockdown provisions.
Responding to the application in his own affidavit,
Comm-Gen Matanga said police were investigating the kidnapping case and Buyanga
was on the wanted list.
Interpol has been roped in to assist in apprehending
Buyanga, whom Comm-Gen Matanga described as a fugitive from justice.
“My police officers are investigating this criminal case
and efforts to locate either the applicant or the minor child within Zimbabwe
have yielded no results,” he said.
“The investigations are still continuing and are at an
advanced stage and Interpol has been invoked to assist in locating both the
applicant and the minor child outside this jurisdiction.
“It will be an affront to the justice delivery system for
this honourable court to entertain a fugitive from justice like the applicant.”
Comm-Gen Matanga stated in the affidavit that Buyanga was
approaching the court with dirty hands since the order emanated from a criminal
offence, that of kidnapping.
Buyanga was simply abusing the court process, he said.
“This court cannot be used as a shield by the applicant who
has failed to comply with the court order that ordered him to return the minor
child within 24 hours,” he said.
“Applicant cannot choose as to which court order he wants
to obey and which one he wants to disobey. He is already in contempt of court
and he must not be entertained.”
In an affidavit, Buyanga’s employee, Lloyd Hama, said
Covid-19 travel restrictions were hindering Buyanga’s efforts to comply with
the High Court order.
“It has been placed on record that the applicant is not in
the jurisdiction,” he said. “In order to have complied with the interim order,
the applicant was mandated to return the minor child within 24 hours at the
risk of being held in contempt of court and imprisoned.
“This would necessarily require the applicant to enter the
jurisdiction of the court to surrender the minor. This order is impossible to
discharge in that countries, world over, including Zimbabwe, are under
lockdown, as a direct consequence of which human movement is curtailed, more so
cross- border movement.”
The court heard that if the movement was allowed, it was
likely to put the health of the child at risk.
Buyanga wants a stay of execution of the order pending
determination of an appeal by the Supreme Court.
Harare lawyer Mr Munyaradzi Bwanya of Mutuso and Taruvinga
Legal Practitioners is representing Ms Muteswa, while the Attorney-General’s
Office is acting for the police and the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs.
During the lockdown, the High Court judgment granting the
order to return the child said Buyanga can only communicate with the child for
an hour through the phone.
The court also ordered the Registrar-General’s Office to
surrender the child’s passport to the Registrar of the High Court within 24
hours.
Footage captured by a supermarket CCTV camera on the day
the child was taken away shows a white Ford Ranger parking behind Ms Muteswa’s
Honda Fit.
Two men brandishing firearms pounced and forcibly took away
the boy, who was with his grandmother. The men jumped into the Ford Ranger and
sped off. Ms Muteswa and her mother fought the men as they drove off, but to
avail. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment