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Prosper Dembedza
Court Correspondent
Harare magistrate Mrs Letwin Rwodzi has dismissed an application by George Katsimberis to have senior prosecutor Mr Micheal Reza recused from his fraud case saying it was baseless and lacks merit.
Katsimberis through his new lawyer Mr Charles Warara had submitted that Mr Reza was taking sides and biased therefore he would not give him a fair trial.
Mr Reza denied taking sides and went on to accuse the defence of trying to bring them to their side which he said he would not do.
In her ruling, Mrs Rwodzi said in determining the application she took into consideration the constitutional obligation.
Mrs Rwodzi said a mere possibility of bias is not sufficient ground for recusal.
“Some of the reasons submitted by the defence were not sufficient for recusal,” she said.
She further stated that documents cannot be objected to through an application for recusal.
She said the defence has submitted nothing which warrants Mr Reza’s application.
The magistrate added that there was no proof that the accused will not have a fair trial if Mr Reza is not recused.
“This court is not convinced that Mr Reza is a biased prosecutor in this case.
“The application is therefore baseless and lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” she said.
Mrs Rwodzi deferred the matter to March 25.
Katsimberis who was recently dumped by his lawyer Mr Tendai Biti has also roped in the services advocate Lewis Uriri as part of his defence.
He stands accused of duping a land developer of close to USS$1 million in a joint venture to build cluster houses in Harare’s Borrowdale suburb.
On the previous sitting, Mrs Rwodzi dismissed Katsimberis’s application which was submitted by Mr Warara to have the State ordered to give them particulars of his other matters which are pending at the High and Supreme Court.
In dismissing the application Mrs Rwodzi said she can’t force the State to give them particulars that are not relevant in this court.
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