The National Prosecuting Authority will appeal to the Supreme Court the acquittal of CCC officials Joana Mamombe and Cecilia Chimbiri by the High Court in the middle of their criminal trial in a lower court on charges of faking an abduction.
The two were on trial before Chief Magistrate Faith Mushure on charges of fabricating their abduction by State security agents in 2020 and publishing falsehoods.
They applied to be dxischarged at the end of the State case but the chief magistrate ruled that a case had been made against them and so they had to present their defence.
The two then appealed against that decision at the High Court, and Justice Priscilla Munangati-Manongwa upheld the application by the two for review of the magistrate’s decision, saying the lower court erred in declining the application for a finding that the State had not made a case against them.
The judge ruled that State witnesses’ testimony was conflicting, that the falsity of the alleged statement by the two accused was simply absent, and that the incriminating evidence against the two suspects had been discredited during cross-examination.
The judge then ruled such evidence had become so manifestly unreliable such that no reasonable court could safely convict on such evidence.
But the National Prosecuting Authority argues that the ruling is defective at law, and now seeks to appeal at the Supreme Court.
The NPA argues that two judges need to sit for a review or appeal to the High Court, and that the conditions for interfering with a trial that is in progress were not met, and so the appeal by the two accused should have been at the conclusion of the trial if they were found guilty.
“The State will be appealing the decision of the High Court in the case of Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Revei Chimbiri versus the Chief Magistrate F Mushure and the State,” said the NPA in a statement.
“The State is of the considered view that the judgment is defective for want of compliance with the High Court Act as well as a precedent, which provides that another judge must concur with the presiding Judge before the judgment is handed down.
“The State is also contending that the judge grossly misdirected herself by interfering with the unterminated proceedings from the lower court, as the termination of proceedings, in this case, was unjustified.”
To this end, the NPA strongly feels that another court presented with the same facts might come to a different conclusion.
Charges against Mamombe and Chimbiri arose when they allegedly claimed to have been seized by suspected state agents and taken to a secluded location outside of Harare.
While there, the two were allegedly understood to have claimed to have been subjected to torture and sexual assault, although they later in their trial denied making any such claim of abduction or ill treatment.
Upon their arrest, they were charged with communicating falsehoods. However, while in the middle of the trial, the High Court found them not guilty and acquitted them of all the charges.
