This is after the State’s application for the judge to
testify was rejected. The couple’s lawyer, Admire Rubaya said the State was
violating the constitution.
“The State is wrong to claim that there’s no law that bars
them from calling any witness to testify, my colleague forgets that this
country is a constitutional democracy, and this constitution is the supreme law
of Zimbabwe and any conduct inconsistent with it is invalid.
“The accused persons are being charged by the State and the
State is conducting itself in a way that violates the constitution. The accused
persons have a right to be informed promptly of their offences upon arrest and
to be given time and facilities to prepare for a defence.
“When this trial commenced, the accused persons were served
with various statements and those statements didn’t include a statement from
the honourable judge.
“They instructed legal practitioners based on those
statements, and exhibits, these are the facilities to prepare for a defence
and, if she is to testify, they will not be given a chance to amend their
defence outline which would be unfair in the circumstances.
“The State attempted to serve us with a statement, which
the investigating officer Owen Mtembwa confirmed that he recorded during trial,
and it should be noted that we have cross examined witnesses who cannot be
recalled, which would be unfair to the trio.”
But the State insisted that the judge had to testify because
the couple claimed in their defence that they were exempted from writing exams
by the board of the Council for legal education. The judge is the chairperson
of the board.
The magistrate will rule on Monday May 27.
0 comments:
Post a Comment