HUMAN rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa yesterday slammed the State for wasting her relatives, friends and regional trial observers’ resources who had turned up for her trial which failed to materialise.
Report by Charles Laiton
Mtetwa said she initially sought confirmation from the State for the commencement of the trial and was advised it had been set for the entire week prompting her to communicate the information to her family members and regional observers.
“I have friends and family members that have travelled long distances for the trial. There are also trial observers from the region and apart from my own commitments for the month of June and July there are other commitments as well,” Mtetwa said, opposing trial postponement to next month.
After a protracted argument over the postponement of the matter, provincial magistrate Tendai Mahwe eventually ruled the matter would be heard over the weekend on June 8 to accommodate both the State and the defence.
Prior to the postponement of the matter tempers almost flared after director for public prosecutions Tawanda Zvekare told the court that Mtetwa had “lied” to the court that she had advised the State that she had other matters to attend to in other courts.
Mtetwa’s lawyer Harrison Nkomo fumed and requested for the retraction of the utterance arguing his client’s image had been tainted.
“The issue is professionally damaging because she will have the record of lying and a huge dent on her credibility during the real trial,” Nkomo said.
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Mahwe eventually ordered the postponement of the matter to a Saturday where the trial is expected to be heard bringing to an end an almost three-hour confrontation.
Mtetwa was arrested last month after she had gone to represent Prime Minister’s Office staffers, Thabani Mpofu, Felix Matsinde, Mehluli Tshuma and Warship Dumba, who had been arrested by police over allegations of possessing materials that could be used to commit offences.
