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Senior Court Reporter
Marry Mubaiwa’s trial on allegations of attempting to kill Vice President Constantino Chiwenga when he was hospitalised in South Africa, had a false start yesterday.
This was so because Mubaiwa said she had approached the High Court for a review of the court’s dismissal of her application challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter.
Mubaiwa indicated that she had filed for a review of Harare regional magistrate Mrs Feresi Chakanyuka’s decision dismissing her application challenging the court’s eligibility to hear her matter.
In her application that has since been dismissed, Mubaiwa claimed that the alleged offence was committed in South Africa and a court sitting in Harare was not eligible to hear the matter.
Her lawyer Ms Beatrice Mtetwa, said they took the matter to the High Court after noting that Mrs Chakanyuka erred in her ruling.
“There is no reason to go (ahead) with the trial when jurisdiction is contested,” said Ms Mtetwa.
Ms Mtetwa said their application had chances of success.
The State led by Mr George Manokore opposed the postponement of the matter, arguing that Mubaiwa had not filed any application seeking review of the lower court’s ruling.
Mr Manokore said after liaising with his fellow prosecutors, he was told that no such application was filed, but Mubaiwa had filed an application for condonation.
“There is no application for review filed at the High Court, but there is an application for condonation filed on November 22 and received by State on November 14,” he said. “If the review was ever filed or is going to be filed, there are no chances of success.”
Mrs Chakanyuka is expected to make a determination tomorrow.
Mubaiwa is also expected to appear in court on February 20 for trial on money laundering charges.
The State led by Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti said it was waiting to receive the docket from its head office and furnish Mubaiwa with documents to prepare for the hearing.
Mubaiwa consented to the date and requested that she be furnished with the documents a month before the trial date.
She argued that the State was given ample time to undertake extraterritorial investigations and she also wanted to be afforded the same opportunity.
“The accused also want to do extra-territorial investigations,” said Ms Mtetwa. “These cannot be done within two days. We would require State papers by mid-January to enable the accused to prepare the same way the State has been allowed to prepare.”
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