adminMathew Masinge
FORMER Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Petronella Kagonye, yesterday applied for bail pending appeal.
Kagonye is serving a 16-month jail term after she was convicted of diverting laptops donated by POTRAZ.
The laptops were meant to be donated to schools in her Goromonzi constituency.
Through her lawyer, Advocate Lewis Uriri, Kagonye claims the magistrate, who handled her trial, relied on circumstantial evidence in convicting her.
Uriri also argued Kagonye was not given the chance to explain why the laptops were not accounted for.
The State is opposed to the bail application.
Justice Pisirayi Kwenda deferred the hearing to Friday to allow Kagonye’s record of proceedings in the Magistrate Court to be filed at the High Court.
Kagonye was initially sentenced to three years before 12 months were suspended on condition she doesn’t commit an offence, involving dishonesty, in the next five years.
Eight more months were suspended on condition she pays US$10 000 restitution, before August 31, for the stolen property.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter