Gweru magistrate Kudakwashe Canady will tomorrow make a ruling on jailed former Kwekwe prosecutor Vincent Chikombe’s application for discharge on a fresh charge of criminal abuse of office.
Chikombe, who is serving a two-year jail term over a similar offence, submitted the application last Friday arguing that the State had no case against him.
In his application, Chikombe said the court erred in charging him with criminal abuse of office since he was no longer a prosecutor at the time the alleged crime was committed.
He said he never received money from the complainant and the complainant only raised the issue after two months when he appeared before the courts on default of payment.
But the prosecution, led by Yeukai Mugumba, maintained Chikombe had a case to answer arguing it was his duty to inform the complainant that he was no longer a public prosecutor.
The State case is that on February 14, 2011, the complainant, Phillip Mitela, was fined $500 for stealing gold. The court also ordered Mitela to pay restitution of $2 400 to the Clerk of Court by March 31 last year.
When Mitela failed to pay the money within the stipulated time, the deadline was extended to June 30, 2011.
On June 29 2011, Mitela went to court with $1 200, which he intended to pay, but was allegedly intercepted by Chikombe who collected the money and promised to give him the receipt later.
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On July 4 that same year, Chikombe called Mitela and advised him to bring an additional $300 which he also allegedly pocketed.
