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Violence, recrimination and arrests after policeman's death in Glen View - Index of articles
Bail hearing deferred again as assessor had a bus to catch
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
March
22, 2012
The High Court
bail hearing for the 29 MDC members was yesterday again adjourned
to today after one of the assessors asked to be excused as he wanted
to catch a government bus home.
The hearing was postponed
for the eighth time in two weeks and offers by the lawyers to provide
transport for him were denied as the application was taking long
to complete. The hearing, which was supposed to start at 14:15hrs
only started an hour later as the Judge and the assessors were unavailable.
The 29 members
are facing false
charges of murdering a police officer in Glen View, Harare last
May. They are in remand prison after they were indicted for trial
on 1 March. Most of the accused had been out on bail before the
indictment.
The hearing resumed in
the afternoon with the State prosecutor, Edmore Nyazamba denying
the granting of bail to the accused claiming they were a flight
risk given the seriousness of their charges.
In response, the defence
lawyer, Charles Kwaramba said he was astounded by the State's
submissions in denying the accused bail. "The State's
submission is skewed as after indictment, an accused person can
apply for bail and be liberated by the courts before the start of
the trial," said Kwaramba.
He said the accused are
in a unique situation as the majority who were on bail have proved
that they are proper candidates for bail and will not run away or
interfere with the witnesses.
"The question is
then - 'What more can an accused do to show that he
or she will not run away?'" said Kwaramba. He said the
State's submission in denying the accused bail was a presumption
with no factual evidence.
The hearing continues
today in Court A at 10:00am.
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