The release of marriage registrar Gorden Tsuro on $150 bail barely three hours after he was sentenced to three years in jail for savagely attacking his wife Rosemary Charlie following a domestic dispute in May last year, has sparked outrage from women pressure groups around the country who described the move as a “miscarriage of justice”.
Charlie also expressed shock at the court’s decision. Tsuro was sentenced around 12 noon on Tuesday but by end of business the same day, he was already walking free after the courts processed, heard and completed his bail application.
“I thought the judgment was fair. The magistrate did his job, but what is shocking me is that he (Tsuro) is out already and it looks like he is not going to jail. I think something happened because the speed with which they say he appealed and was granted bail is astounding,” Charlie said.
“The judgment was passed at 12 noon, but at 5pm he was already at home. There is no justice for women, that is all I can say,” Charlie said.
Musasa Project director Netty Musanhu said: “I think it’s a mockery of the whole justice system. We saw her (Charlie) when it was still fresh and we had to help her with medicals because it was very bad. To hear that he’s out on bail is really unfortunate. It makes women lose faith in the whole justice system. Are we saying women are not important? Do they not have a right to life? I think there is a tendency at the courts to not take cases of domestic violence seriously.”
The Women’s Coalition national chairperson Virginia Muwanigwa said: “We do not condone any violence against women. We condemn it in the most serious terms. In terms of the law, we are not very comfortable with a judicial system that exposes a person who has been assaulted to the perpetrator. We have heard of cases where women were later killed because they were exposed to the same people who had previously assaulted them.”
Several other women’s groups said Tsuro’s release on bail could make his victim “feel insecure”.
Tsuro’s lawyer Norman Mugiya appeared before the same regional magistrate, William Bhila, making an application for Tsuro’s release and he was granted $150 bail pending appeal.
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In his application, Mugiya argued the magistrate erred when he convicted Tsuro on the strength of the medical report which he said was not supported with credible evidence.
He also argued Charlie was not injured due to assault but suffered injuries during a fight between the pair.
Mugiya said Bhila also erred in committing Tsuro to prison while disregarding other sentencing options such as fine or community service.
“The court erred when it committed the appellant to prison for a charge of assault on the strength of prevalence of the offence without the benefit of the official statistics of records. It also erred by opting for a retributive sentence as opposed to a reformatory sentence in tandem with modern sentencing,” Mugiya submitted.
Initially, Tsuro was being charged with attempted murder, but was on Tuesday convicted on a lesser charge of common assault after the court ruled that Charlie’s evidence was fraught with inconsistencies.
The magistrate said although it could not be ruled out that Charlie suffered serious injuries as a result of the attack, she nonetheless failed to convince the court as a credible witness to sustain an attempted murder charge.
Tsuro was arrested last year and charged with domestic violence, but the State later altered the charge to attempted murder. Charlie was admitted in hospital for a month following the attack.
