The trial of three women accused of sexually attacking male hitchhikers to collect semen failed to take place for the fifth time yesterday after the State indicated it had faced logistical problems in making available the forensic examination results from South Africa.
On Wednesday prosecutor Tapiwa Kasema told the court the forensic results would be available yesterday and the trial would then start, but yesterday he made an application for a postponement, saying he would call a witness to shed light on why the results had been delayed.
However, it also emerged the other reason why the trial failed to start was because lawyers representing the accused had not been supplied with State papers to prepare the defence for their clients.
Arnold Taruvinga, representing the accused, made an application for the return of their passports and the scrapping of reporting conditions arguing his clients were being prejudiced by not conducting their cross-border business.
However, the application was opposed by Kasema who told the court, the women were still a flight risk since they had not been tried yet. Regional magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni, is expected to make a determination on the application by both the State and the defence on Tuesday next week.
The women are suspected to be part of a syndicate of female rapists who went on a rampage along the countrys major highways, raping men at gunpoint.
