An MDC Harare councilor accused of causing havoc and violence in the capital city last week has been found not guilty and acquitted by a Harare Magistrate.
Munyaradzi Kufahakutizwi a councilor for ward 9 Mabvuku finally got his freedom when Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba found him not guilty of the public violence charges at the close of the State’s case today.
In his application, granted before the court, Kufahakutizwi argued that there was no evidence to prove the essential elements of the offense and that there was no evidence on which a reasonable court, acting carefully might properly convict.
“The evidence adduced on behalf of the State is so manifestly unreliable that no reasonable court could safely act on it,” he said.
“From the evidence of the State witness it was not established that accused acted in consent with any other identified person in committing public violence. The accused was arraigned before the court alone and it is not competent for one to be charged with public violence and still appear in court alone. At the end of the State’s case there is no evidence on record of the accused acting in consent to forcibly and to a serious extent disturb peace or realizing the risk or possibility.The State case is afflicted with irreconcilable contradictions. The discrepancies are material since the case is based on a single witness.”
He also argued that the State is relying on the general allegation of common purpose without specifying the accused person’s crime that constitutes public violence.
Kufahakutizwi’s lawyer, Tonderai Bhatasara of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) further argued that there was no satisfactory explanation given by the witness as to why a passenger who was allegedly in his car was not made a State witness.
In response, Prosecuting Idah Maromo opposed the application on the basis that the admissible evidence presented by the State proved the essential elements of the offense.
Allegations were that on January 16 at around 1300hrs, Munyaradzi Kufahakutizwe and his accomplices believed to be still at large connived to carry out acts of public violence in Mabvuku, barricaded Kariyana Street Manresa Road using boulders blocking the traffic flow.
Kufahakutizwe was accused of stoning and damaging a vehicle which was negotiating its way through the barricaded road as well as demanding an $80 toll fee to pass through the barricaded road.
21 other people accused of the same offense have long been acquitted before him.
