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State witnesses fail to attend court again
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
March 25, 2009

At around 09: 30 am, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, project lawyers, Roselyn Hanzi and Tawanda Zhuwarara appear at Rottenrow Magistrates Court before Magistrate Tapiwa Godzi. They are in the company of eight other women who were arrested in connection with the peaceful demonstration held by Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) on 10 February 2009.

They appear for trial which was initially scheduled to commence on 4 March 2009 but was postponed to 25 March 2009 as the state witnesses who are all police officers did not attend court. The police officers are based in Harare did not turn up in court for the second time in a row.

The prosecutor notifies the court that in spite of having subpoenaed the police officers who are the key state witnesses in the matter, the police officers have not delivered any return of service and they are not in attendance at the court. The defence team, which includes Andrew Makoni apply that the court commences to dispense with the preliminary procedures for trial such as the recording of pleas from the accused to pressurize the prosecutor to ensure that the witnesses attend. The defence contend that these preliminary procedures can be disposed of in the absence of the state witnesses and in the event that the witnesses do not attend court the Magistrate must then reach a verdict on the next court date.

The Magistrate rules that the defence lawyers have not made any application to remove the accused from remand, and he notes that the prosecutor is not acting competently in failing to ensure that the witnesses who are all police officers based in Harare attend trial. Magistrate Godzi says the behavior of the prosecutor shows that he fully associates himself with the deplorable conduct of the police. The Magistrate further states that the prosecutor must ensure that the state witnesses attend on the next court date failure of which the court will dispense with the case one way or another. Magistrate Godzi postpones the matter to 29 April 2009 for commencement of trial.

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