Warrant of arrest dropped

Law officer Mr Edmore Nyazamba who was expected to continue with the application he initially mounted last week, made a U-turn and dropped the application upon realising that proper service had not been done. One of the suspects, Albert Mugove Matapo, who remained in custody when five others were freed last year, on Wednesday appeared in court after two weeks of allegedly refusing to attend trial.
The other five, Nyasha Zivuku, Emmanuel Marara, Shingirai Mutemachani, Patson Mupfure and Oncemore Mudzurahona, were freed by the High Court on the basis that their indictment period had expired and that they could only be summoned for re-indictment. Matapo remained in custody because he was separately facing another charge of attempting to escape from prison.
The whereabouts of the five are not known to the court and their lawyer Mr Charles Warara of Warara and Associates maintained that although they could not be served personally for trial, they were free men who were not bound by any conditions.
Mr Nyazamba confirmed to the court that the State had failed to serve the five for trial as required by the law and that chances for the success of the application for the warrant of arrest was next to none.
Earlier on the State had indicated that service was effected through some people who were found at the addresses given by the five after the police failed to locate the suspects to personally serve them.
“Application for warrant of arrest in respect of the five suspects should be held in abeyance. We failed to get the persons who accepted service on behalf of the five.