admin
Prosper Dembedza Court Correspondent
The perjury trial of former Pokugara properties general manager Mr Michael van Blerk failed to continue yesterday as prosecutor Mr Zivanai Macharaga was committed somewhere.
This prompted the trial to be deferred to June 7.
On the previous trial day, the State’s second witness was warned against smuggling in hearsay evidence during cross examination.
The witness, Mr Roy Nyabvure, who is a former employee of the City of Harare, tried to claim that building permits given to George Katsimberis to construct houses for Pokugara were valid because he had seen other documents that indicated that the permits had been submitted.
Van Blerk’s lawyer advocate Tawanda Zhuwarara objected to the leading of such evidence because it violated the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act which bars a criminal court from hearing hearsay evidence.
After lengthy submissions, Harare regional magistrate Mr Ngoni Nduna concurred with Advocate Zhuwarara that Nyabvure as a former employee of City of Harare could not comment on documents that he did not create or had been the custodian of because that would be hearsay evidence.
Adv Zhuwarara said City of Harare officials were on record in other proceedings stating that the permits that Katsimberis had were obtained fraudulently.
Nyabvure could not testify to the fact that the permits were valid based on documents which he himself did not create.
Mr Nduna struck Nyabvure’s evidence out of the record and held that it was not admissible for him to claim that the permits were valid.
On the previous sitting, Katsimberis testified under cross examination by Adv Zhuwarara who asked him if he was the one who went to Cleveland House, the council office block where plans are approved and permits given, to get the building plan stamped.
Katsimberis admitted that he sent his engineer to Cleveland House to get the building plan of cluster houses that he was supposed to build in Borrowdale.
Zhuwarara then asked if the engineer went to the Mount Pleasant office or Cleveland House to which Katsimberis replied that it was Cleveland.
But Zhuwarara asked if he knew that only industrial building plans are sent to Cleveland House and homes were dealt with in the Mount Pleasant offices.
Katsimberis said he was sure that the building plans were approved at Cleveland.
Online Reporter