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Madzore freed as top cop is accused of lying

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Chief Inspector Clever Ntini, who investigated MDC-T activists Solomon Madzore and Lovemore Taruvinga Magaya, lied about the two's involvement in the murder of Police Inspector Petros Mutedza.

TOP cop Chief Inspector Clever Ntini, who investigated MDC-T youth assembly president Solomon Madzore and another party activist Lovemore Taruvinga Magaya, lied that the two had been identified by undercover police officers as having taken part in the murder of Police Inspector Petros Mutedza in May last year, the High Court ruled yesterday.

Report by Charles Laiton

It emerged Madzore’s previous bail dismissals were as a result based on false information supplied to the court by Ntini.

Ntini’s unreliable evidence prompted High Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu to order the State to reconsider its position pertaining to the granting of bail to Madzore and Magaya given the special circumstances that had arisen.

Yesterday, Madzore was then ordered to pay $500 bail, surrender his passport and to reside at his Westgate residence, while Magaya, who was once granted bail which was later revoked, was released on the previous bail conditions.

Justice Bhunu also ordered the State and the defence to sit down and establish if, among the remaining 26 accused, there could be more suitable candidates for bail under special circumstances in view of Ntini’s discredited evidence.

Justice Bhunu, who is presiding over the activists’ trial, concurred with defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa that Ntini had withheld important information about his investigations into Madzore and Magaya’s alibis, but rather chose to misrepresent that he had strong evidence linking the two to Mutedza’s murder.

Madzore and Magaya’s release was prompted by Ntini’s intense cross-examination by Mtetwa, who accused the top cop of supplying false information to High Court judges Justices Tendai Uchena and Bhunu.

In his bail opposing affidavit, Ntini alleged Madzore and Magaya were positively identified by undercover police officers who were at Glen View 3 Shopping Centre, but in his evidence-in-chief, he admitted to misrepresenting facts.

At one point, the top cop told the court that he never lied, but Mtetwa left the court in stitches when she told Ntini that he had “a history of lying”.

“Why should this court believe you now? You have a history of lying and you want this court to believe that you have visited (Prophet Emmanuel) Makandiwa and you are now a born-again man and you tell the truth,” Mtetwa said.

Ntini admitted that his evidence against the 29 accused persons was based on information he gathered from his informers contrary to what he had told the court. The State is represented by Edmore Nyazamba and the activists by Mtetwa, Gift Mtisi, Charles Kwaramba and Jeremiah Bhamu.