adminFungai Jachi Court Reporter
A 24-year-old woman was on Wednesday arraigned before the courts for allegedly assaulting a police officer who was on preventative patrols in Kuwadzana 2.
Rutendo Chigwada appeared before Mbare magistrate Mr Stanford Mambanje charged with assault and was remanded to Wednesday next week on $50 bail for trial continuation.
As part of her bail conditions, she was ordered to reside at the address she gave to the court and not to interfere with State witnesses.
In her defence, Chigwada told the court that she was innocent and she had only touched Constable Edison Muchangani’s shirt when she wanted to gain balance as she was about to fall.
“I did touch his shirt and a button fell off, but the main reason why he dragged me to court is because my family and I failed to give him the money he asked for,” she said.
“He wanted me to give him money so that he withdraws the case, but since I failed, he ended up bringing me to court.”
Prosecutor Mr Percy Mugauri alleged that on March 2, around 2am Cst Muchangani was deployed at Kuwadzana 2 Shopping Centre in the company of two other police officers.
The three were on duty carrying out preventative patrols.
The court heard that when Cst Muchangani arrived at Kuwadzana 2 bar, he was approached by a man who informed him that there was a person lying on the ground.
It is alleged that Cst Muchangani went to the scene and was confronted by Chigwada who told him that she was responsible for assaulting the person on the ground.
It is the State’s case that Cst Muchangani grabbed Chigwada by the hand with the intention of taking her to the police station, but she then tussled with him and in the process tore his shirt.
Cst Muchangani reported the matter, leading to Chigwada’s arrest.
Online Reporter