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Tendai Rupapa, Senior Court Reporter
The trial of Harare prosecutor Henry Muringani, who allegedly ran over his ex-wife with his car following a domestic dispute, has opened.
Muringani (31), who is employed by the Ministry of Justice and attached to the Chitungwiza Magistrates’ Courts allegedly hit the complainant, Primrose Mbedzi, who was standing near the pre-cast wall and trapped her leg between the vehicle and the wall.
He appeared before regional magistrate Mrs Fadzai Mthombeni today charged with attempted murder. He is denying the charges.
In his defence outline, read in court by his lawyer Mr Norman Mugiya, Muringani said his brother was the one who accidentally hit Mbedzi with the car.
“The accused had a misunderstanding with his ex-wife and she became violent and stoned accused’s car smashing its windscreen in the process.
“His brother, who was on the driver’s seat, tried to drive away from the scene but because of the windscreen which had been smashed, he could not see properly and he swerved thereby accidentally hitting a pole which then hit the woman,” read part of the outline.
Muringani said his ex-wife was trying to “fix” him by taking him to court. He further accused her of trying to extort US$12 000 from him for her to withdraw the charges.
The State, led by Mrs Kudzai Chigwedere, called Mbedzi to take the witness stand and she narrated her version of events to the court.
Mbedzi said Muringani first throttled her and hit her head against a precast perimeter wall. She added that Muringani also assaulted her sister who had intervened to restrain them.
“When I saw that he was hitting my sister, I picked a stone intending to stone him but I missed and hit his car.
“He rushed back to his vehicle and started the engine. He suddenly sped towards me and trapped my leg between the vehicle and the security wall. He kept on accelerating the vehicle for close to five minutes.
“As he was accelerating, he was tearing my leg and the doctors had to do skin grafting to patch the skin that was damaged,” she said.
Mbedzi said Muringani was in the company of a lady who was seated in the car.
In the middle of proceedings, the court ruled that part of the evidence be heard in-camera so that the complainant could show where she was injured.
It is alleged that on July 14 last year, Muringani went to Mbedzi’s house in Seke, Chitungwiza with the intention of seeing their child.
Upon arrival at the house around 7pm, it is alleged Muringani parked his vehicle outside the yard.
It is the State’s case that Muringani went inside and met Mbedzi who told him that she had taken the child to her mother’s residence in Mutare.
This allegedly did not go down well with Muringani who wanted to know why he had not been informed of the development.
An altercation allegedly ensued and Muringani is said to have grabbed Mbedzi’s hair and pushed her against the pre-cast wall.
According to the State, Mbedzi picked up stones to use in defence against Muringani.
It is alleged that Muringani ran outside the yard with Mbedzi following in hot pursuit, throwing stones. Mbedzi, the court heard, missed her target and smashed Muringani’s windscreen instead.
This angered Muringani who allegedly got into the vehicle and drove at high speed towards Mbedzi. He allegedly struck the complainant who was standing near the pre-cast wall and trapped her leg between the vehicle and the wall.
Mbedzi sustained a fractured leg.
Online Reporter