Kereke private prosecutor awaits his payday

Tendai Rupapa Senior Court Reporter
A Harare magistrate who presided over the case of convicted rapist Munyaradzi Kereke is on Tuesday expected to rule on how much the private prosecution should get as legal costs.

The private prosecutor, Mr Charles Warara, said the tariff which will be indicated by regional magistrate Mr Noel Mupeiwa will determine the amount to claim from Kereke.

“We want the magistrate to give us an indication of the tariff because we are only able to determine how much we want after given that tariff.

“The magistrate will decide whether the costs are for this particular trial only or including all the other issues that surrounded the case,” he said.

The matter was postponed to July 19 after Mr Mupeiwa was said to be feeling unwell.

Kereke was on Monday jailed an effective 10 years for raping his 11-year-old niece, six years ago.

Kereke’s case had to proceed through private prosecution after Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana refused to prosecute him, saying there was no evidence linking the legislator to the offence.

Mr Mupeiwa sentenced Kereke to 14 years behind bars, but set aside four years for five years on condition he does not commit a similar offence within that period.

The court, however, acquitted Kereke on charges of indecently assaulting the victim’s elder sister.

In his ruling, Mr Mupeiwa said the private prosecutor had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kereke raped the minor and said the defence had tried to concoct issues to secure the release of a guilty man.