High Court Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu is today expected to deliver his ruling on the bail application of the 29 MDC-T activists accused of murdering police Inspector Petros Mutedza in May last year.
The MDC-T activists have been repeatedly denied bail at the High Court and most of them have spent more than a year in remand prison.
Over the past 11 months, the High Court had postponed the bail hearing until the lawyers representing the accused consented to trial pending bail judgment.
The lawyers claim their clients were tortured in police custody and were held in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions, receiving inadequate food.
The State had been arguing that the accused were a flight risk but defence lawyer Charles Kwaramba said his clients were proper candidates for bail. He said none of them ran away when they were briefly freed in March when the trial was supposed to begin.
But State prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba said the situation had changed for the worse and knowing the gravity of the matter they were facing and the penalty if convicted, the accused were likely to abscond.
The trial continued yesterday with defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa accusing the sixth State witness Assistant Inspector Spencer Nyararai of deliberately doctoring information to nail the accused.
She said Nyararai had struggled to defend his “manufactured” evidence.
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Last week, Nyararai identified the first accused Tungamirai Madzokere, the second accused Yvonne Musarurwa, the third accused Rebecca Mafikeni, fourth accused Last Maengahama and 16th accused Simon Mapanzure.
He said Madzokere, a ward councillor in Glen View, used to frequent the police station.
Nyararai said he knew Musarurwa from police intelligence information and said he did not know Mafikeni but could identify her through her locks.
But yesterday he made an about-turn and said he knew Musarurwa because she used to frequent Glen View Police Station with Mafikeni.
Nyararai said Musarurwa had short hair but Mtetwa produced a copy of the Daily News of June 4 2011, which she said had a picture of Musarurwa with very long hair and Mafikeni with natural hair not dreadlocks.
“You can see her (Musarurwa) in this photo with short hair and Mafikeni without dreadlocks.
“You are tailoring evidence and that’s why your evidence keeps on varying,” Mtetwa charged at him.
Mtetwa said all the six witnesses who have testified so far gave inconsistent evidence and the State summary has information that does not appear in statements recorded from witnesses.
