ATTEMPTS by the State to keep MDC-T youth leader Solomon Madzore behind bars after he was granted bail by a Bindura magistrate fell apart yesterday after High Court judge Justice Felistas Chatukuta dismissed the application on the basis that it lacked merit.
Report by Phillip Chidavaenzi
Madzore, who allegedly insulted President Robert Mugabe during an MDC-T rally at Mushumbi Pools last month, was last week granted $100 bail by magistrate Elisha Chingono, but the State invoked Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to keep him in custody and made the High Court application in which they argued the lower court had erred.
Prosecutor Sharon Fero argued that Madzore had to be kept behind bars because he had a pending murder case at the High Court and was also likely to interfere with two State witnesses whose names had been disclosed to him and were also present at the rally where he allegedly insulted Mugabe.
Justice Chatukuta said the application lacked merit because Madzore had not been convicted of murder and had adhered to his bail conditions.
“The applicant has not yet been proved to have committed the offence,” she said. Madzore is alleged to have called Mugabe a “limping donkey” during the MDC-T rally at Mushumbi Pools.
