Policeman defends shooting soldier

Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspondent
A Gweru policeman who was arrested on Sunday for shooting a soldier who allegedly sought to restrain him from assaulting a suspect has claimed that he did so in the line of duty.

Detective Constable Gift Gorongonya was not asked to plead when he appeared before Gweru magistrate Mildred Matuvi on attempted murder charges. He was remanded out of custody to February 26 on $50 bail.

Through his lawyer, Arshiel Mugiya of Mugiya and Macharaga Law Chambers, Gorongonya alleged that he shot Corporal Zico Shumba in the line of duty after he tried to prevent him from arresting a suspect. Mr Mugiya had applied for the court to place Gorongonya off remand. He argued that his client had a constitutional mandate of enforcing the law. Mr Mugiya said Gorongonya was entitled to use force where there was resistance.

“My Lord, my client was in the line of duty when this incident occurred. He has the mandate to enforce the law and in this instance he was trying to arrest a suspect and the complainant was obstructing the course of justice.

“Furthermore, my client was brought to court unaware of the charges because the Form 242 that has the brief circumstances which the court submitted was based on the allegations of an informant and now the State is submitting a new charge sheet based on the information obtained from the complainant.

“That is to say my client was thus unlawfully arrested and the warned and cautioned statement he gave to the police was in respect of the charges and circumstances on the initial charge sheet.”

The State is alleging that on Saturday at around 5pm the suspect, who was in the company of his colleague Constable Chrispen Musiiwa, was assaulting a soldier along Harare road when a Five Brigade bound Zimbabwe National Army bus stopped.

The complainant and other soldiers disembarked and tried to restrain the suspect. The complainant allegedly disarmed Cst Musiiwa, who was armed with a pistol and removed the magazine. The court heard that Gorongonya then drew a pistol and fired some shots before hitting Corporal Shumba on the leg.