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Court Correspondent
Harare lawyer Mr Tendai Biti’s bid to delay trial in his assault case has hit a brick wall after his application for postponement was dismissed.
Biti is facing allegations of manhandling a Russian investor during an altercation outside Harare Magistrates Court.
His lawyer, Mr Alec Muchadehama, had submitted to the court that the trial should not commence since they have filed an appeal against Justice Tawanda Chitapi’s ruling at the Supreme Court which has a pending determination.
Justice Chitapi ruled that the trial should commence.
However Mr Muchadehama submitted that the trial should not start until the Supreme Court makes its determination which Mr Reza opposed.
Mr Reza argued that the defence wanted a permanent stay of proceedings and the permanent recusal of himself and the magistrate. Mrs Vongai Muchuchuti Guwuriro deferred the matter to April 11 for trial commencement.
Proceedings in this matter were stayed last year by the High Court after Biti approached it seeking the recusal of both the trial magistrate Mrs Vongai Muchuchuti Guwuriro and the trial Prosecutor Mr Michael Reza, respectively on the basis that they were both biased against him.
However, Justice Chitapi dismissed Biti’s application for review saying he should stand trial.
He ruled that there was no evidence of biase by Mr Reza or Mrs Guwuriro.
Justice Chitapi dimissed the argument that Ms Muchuchuti-Guwuriro was biased, and dismissed his allegation that she had herself contacted someone at the Master’s office trying to track down Mr Muchadehama as there was no evidence of this and no affidavit from the named officer.
The judge said Mr Reza, as prosecutor and so the other counsel in the trial, had every right to try and track down his colleague.
Ms Aleshina is one of the witnesses in case involving building contractor, George Katsimberis, who is alleged to have defrauded a land developer with whom he had entered into a joint venture to build cluster houses in Harare’s Borrowdale suburb.
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