THE prosecutor in the matter in which MDC–T chief elections agent Morgan Komichi is accused of contravening the Electoral Act, Michael Mugabe, has accused defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama of disrespecting the court after failing to turn up for the trial.
REPORT BY SENIOR REPORTER
Mugabe told presiding magistrate Tendai Mahwe yesterday that Muchadehama’s conduct smacked of unprofessionalism.
“My colleague has no respect for this court. He should have sent a colleague to come and represent him. As it stands, he is not communicating to the court itself nor to the office of the Attorney-General,” Mugabe said.
When the magistrate enquired from Komichi about his lawyer’s whereabouts, he said it could be too early to make conclusions without the full details as Muchadehama could be “facing some difficulty”.
Mahwe then rolled over the matter to today, saying Muchadehama could be tied up at the High Court as he had sent Chris Mhike to stand in for him in an earlier matter.
Charges against Komichi arose on July 28 after he allegedly misrepresented that a sealed tamper-proof envelope with a special vote ballot paper had been picked at the Harare International Conference Centre where the special vote was being processed.
Komichi was arrested for contravening the Electoral Act, which makes it a criminal offence for an unauthorised person to possess ballot papers or to tamper with them. He has been in police custody since June 29 after his three bail applications failed.
