CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) vice-president Tendai Biti’s bid to file another application for referral to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) in the middle of his trial hit a snag last week.
Biti is accused of verbally assaulting businesswoman
Tatiana Aleshina at the Harare Magistrates Court in November 2020.
The complainant Aleshina had already given her testimony
last week when Biti’s lawyer gave notice to apply for referral to ConCourt
saying the trial should be stopped to accommodate his application.
This was despite yet another earlier ConCourt application
being dismissed by the same magistrate, Vongai Muchuchuti-Guwuriro, who ruled
that his application was frivolous and vexatious.
Biti’s lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the court: “We gave
notice that on February 17, 2023 of the accused person’s intention for referral
of his matter to ConCourt and I delivered the brief notification.”
But prosecutor Michael Reza opposed the application saying
this was akin to the magistrate reviewing her ruling.
Reza said Biti should approach a superior court to file his
application than file the same application to the same magistrate.
“Your worship, I hear what he wants to say. He wishes to
file a ConCourt application. Your worship, my brother wishes to file a strange
application. This is unheard of,” Reza argued.
“On February 17, 2023, this application was made before and
a ruling in that application for referral to ConCourt was dismissed by this
court. This court is functus officio (of no further official authority or legal
effect). My brother knows what he has to do if an application is dismissed by
the court. You do not go back to the same court for a similar application, you
go to a superior court.”
Muchadehama, however, said when they gave notice to file
the application, Reza had not shown intention to oppose the application and
asked for a postponement to prepare his response.
But Reza stood his ground saying he was only responding to
the notice.
Muchuchuti-Guwuriro ordered Muchadehama to file a written
application in respect of the ConCourt application and ordered the trial to
continue.
Biti is denying the assault allegations and wants the
magistrate to recuse herself from the matter over alleged bias. Newsday
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