‘Forgotten’ prisoner Mutsinze finds legal representation

Mutsinze of Nyameni, Marondera, is still in custody after High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe failed to sentence him after convicting him of robbery and murder with actual intent in 2003.

He was arrested and convicted of car theft in 1998 and sentenced to six years and eight months.  While serving his sentence, he was tried on other charges of murder and armed robbery committed in 1998. His trial began in 2002 before Justice Charles Hungwe and was concluded in March 2003.

Mutsinze has been languishing in remand because his matter is considered partially heard since it did not go for sentencing.

To make matters worse the tapes pertaining to his case were also erroneously erased before the matter was completed making the production of a duplicate record virtually impossible.

Mr Alex Mambosasa of Mambosasa Legal Practitioners yesterday confirmed that their law firm had been allocated the matter by the Registrar of the High Court on a pro-bono basis.

“I can confirm that we have been given the matter we are, however, still to get instructions on the way forward but we are likely to make a constitutional application very soon,” said Mr Mambosasa.

Related Stories…

• Judge under fire
• Calls for urgent review of judiciary system
• Things falling apart for inmate Mutsinze

Last month Mutsinze told The Herald that he has tried on numerous occasions to have his case heard by various judges among them Justices Bharat Patel, Felistas Chatukuta and Joseph Musakwa, who all wrote letters of notification to Justice Hungwe to no avail.

He said he was looking for a pro-deo, to represent him whenever he appeared in court.
A bishop with Jerusalem Apostolic Faith Church before his incarceration and husband to four wives and father to 10 children, Mutsinze said no one had visited him since 2007.

His family now consists of the prison wardens and fellow inmates he has been with over the years.
His greatest fear is joining his maker before his case is finalised like his co-accused Pedzisai Zhoya who passed on at the same prison complex in 2006.