A senior Bulawayo police officer, Assistant Commissioner Dereck Matsika, who has been on remand for the past year facing charges of dispensing dangerous drugs to five addicts, possession of pornographic discs and failure to secure his service firearm, has been acquitted of all the charges.
By the Senior Court Reporter
Matsika, who is employed as a police medical doctor, was set free last Friday after Bulawayo provincial magistrate Victor Mpofu ruled that the State had failed to prove a prima facie case against him.
Matsika was being represented by Munyaradzi Nzarayapenga, while Thompson Hove represented the State.
At one time Attorney-General Jonannes Tomana was sucked into the high-profile case after Nzarayapenga accused the State of seeking to secure Matsika’s conviction by “hook and crook”, thus depriving him of a fair trial.
This was after the State changed prosecutors thrice and brought a prosecutor who dealt with the matter at the police disciplinary hearing.
The prosecutor was later barred by the court from handling the matter after it ruled that she was compromised.
In January, the AG’s Office tried to move the case, which had already started at a provincial court, to the regional court, but Matsika resisted the move.
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The State had alleged that between November and July last year, Matsika supplied five drug addicts with Pethidine, a dangerous drug only taken under supervision.
The top cop was also accused of possessing pornographic material and failing to secure his service firearm, which charges he denied vehemently alleging an internal conspiracy to tarnish his image.
