admin
Prosper Dembedza
Herald Correspondent
The assault trial for Tendai Biti will continue on Wednesday where the State is expected to call it’s third witness to testify.
This comes after Biti’s lawyer, Mr Alec Muchadehama finished cross- examining the second witness who is former Pokugara Properties general manager Mr Michael Van Blerk.
Biti is facing charges of assaulting businesswoman and investor Mrs Tatiana Aleshina at the Harare Magistrates Court sometime in 2020.
On the previous sitting, Mr Van Blerk revealed to the court that it was necessary for him to come between Biti and Mrs Aleshina in order to save the businesswoman from the legislator who was charging agressivley towards her whilst shouting.
Mr Van Blerk told the court that when Biti was charging towards Mrs Aleshina, he was pointing a finger towards her and shouting, “Stupid, Stupid” .
During her testimony, Mrs Aleshina said she went to Trauma Centre to get treatment as her shoulders were painful.
While leading evidence, deputy prosecutor general Mr Michael Reza asked Mrs Aleshina what went through her mind during the incident. She replied that she was traumatized and thought Biti was about attack her as he was aggressive, shouting and pointing his finger at her.
Mrs Aleshina told the court that she froze when Biti charged towards her and felt he would physically attack her.
“As we were walking in the corridor, l suddenly heard a noise and shouting behind my back,” said Mrs Aleshina.
She said she immediately stopped in shock only to see Biti with a crowd of people charging towards her.
She further stated that she had never come across that kind of unruly behaviour in her life.
She told the court that Biti was aggressive and pointing his finger at her face while shouting, “You stupid, stupid, stupid idiot” while his body was shaking in an aggressive and angry way.
“I did not understand what was going on and I asked him if he was talking to me. He continued his aggressive behaviour, shouting and pointing at my face. After that my colleague, Michael Van Blerk then tried to protect me and stood in front of me.
“Someone said, ‘It’s not right. It’s dangerous here. You need to go’ ,” Mrs Aleshina told court.
Mr Reza asked Mrs Aleshina to describe how she felt and she explained that she felt that he could physically hit her.
“I believed at that moment I was in danger. I thought he could kill me. I was shaken, humiliated and disturbed, ” she told the court.
Mrs Aleshina said after the incident she felt confused and he wandered around the court for some minutes looking for an exit point.
“On my way out, someone asked me why Biti was shouting at me and l couldn’t answer that.
“Someone else then said Biti can’t treat women like that. You need to report him to the police. I decided to go to the Russian embassy and tell them what happened. They calmed me down and advised me to go to the police to report the matter.”
Online Reporter