Cop killer’s trial resumes

Assistant Inspector Joseph Chavarika told senior Bulawayo magistrate, Mrs Thobekile Mkhosana-Matibe, that although Jardine Heath Roy was cooperative during questioning at the scene of the accident, he looked confused and his speech was incoherent.

It was his testimony that he suspected that Roy was under the influence of alcohol because of a strong smell, which he suspected to be alcohol.

“When ordered to stand up from where he was seated he was staggering and falling over, which made me suspect that he was under the influence of alcohol, which prompted me to decide that he undergoes a breath test,” testified Asst Insp Chavarika.

Earlier Constable Ashton Govo had told the court that Asst Insp Chavarika summoned him to work and told him to have a breath test of Roy.

He told the court that the reading on the breathalyser machine was 232 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. After the test he handed the results, which come out instantly to Asst Insp Chavarika, he said.

Roy (35), of Number 3 Reudes-Flo Road in Fortunes Gate pleaded not guilty to culpable homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol.

He is out of custody on $500 bail and the court ordered him to reside at his given address until the matter is finalised.

The court also ordered him to surrender his passport to the Clerk of the Provincial Magistrates’ Courts and was further ordered to report to Bulawayo Traffic twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. His trial continues on 7 January next year and the prosecutor, Mr Carrington Dhliwayo, indicated he still had two State witnesses to testify. The trial was scheduled to start in September, but could not after Roy was involved in a road traffic accident and had to be admitted into the Intensive Care Unit at Mater Dei Hospital.

The court heard that on 3 June this year, Roy was driving a Land Rover Defender coming from Fortunes Gate direction towards the city centre.

Three police officers including the late Sgt Ottilia Magwenya were manning a speed trap along 12th Avenue Extension opposite the United Bulawayo Hospitals.