Money Changer Who Lost His 3-Year-Old Daughter While in Remand, Acquitted
A money changer, Michael Zumba, who lost his 3-year-old daughter while in remand, has been acquitted of currency dealing charges after spending 30 days behind bars.
Conflicting Police Testimony Leads to Zumba’s Acquittal
The Magistrate, Nomagugu Sibanda, found that the officers had provided conflicting information in court. When Zumba was arrested at Yeukai Business Center in Mucheke, the police only found US$20 and 20 Rand on him. This was far from the allegations of currency dealing.
“One of the cops said they saw Magugu shouting for foreign currency customers from a distance. The another said they saw him selling airtime,” explained Sibanda. “The other one said Zumba had an Econet bib to show that he was selling airtime, while the one said he had no bib.”
Charges Dropped Against 35 Election Observers
In a separate case, the state has been forced to drop charges against 35 observers from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and the Election Resource Centre (ERC). The observers were arrested on Election Day last year for allegedly attempting to announce the poll results.
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Court Proceedings
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti admitted that the state failed to find sufficient evidence to pin down the suspects over the past nine months. “We are dropping charges before plea. Because we have failed to get any evidence against the accused persons,” stated Mutsokoti.
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The observers’ lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, stated that his clients’ rights were violated during the arrest. “They were held incommunicado. Upon being taken illegally, the police seized each of the accused persons’ personal cell phones, asked for the passwords, switched them off and put some on flight mode before they took them away.”
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Muchadehama added that his clients were detained in “stinky cells full of bugs with no ablution facilities,” which he described as a clear violation of the constitution.