BULAWAYO — Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has defied a High Court order compelling him to pay a former detective, Bazil Nyapokoto, $64 000 in damages for victimisation after testifying against other detectives in an inquest hearing.
BY RICHARD MUPONDE SENIOR COURT REPORTER
This comes amid reports that the record at the centre of the inquest had gone missing at the High Court.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese in January ordered the police to pay Nyapokoto after he dismissed with costs an application by Chihuri to rescind an earlier order by the same court to pay the damages.
Nyapokoto’s lawyer Tanaka Muganyi yesterday confirmed the latest development.
“They have not complied with the order despite that their lawyer was there when the order was issued by Justice Makonese. He should have advised them to pay the damages,” Muganyi said.
“As I speak, we are still to have access to the written order as we have been advised that the record is missing at the High Court, but that does not stop them from paying the damages as per the court’s order.”
Chihuri had filed an urgent chamber application seeking to shield one of his lieutenants, Superintendent Pilate Moyo, for contempt of court, but the application was dismissed with costs.
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Moyo had defied an order by Justice Maphios Cheda in 2011 by blocking the Deputy Sheriff from attaching his property to pay Nyapokoto the damages and an order for his imprisonment was subsequently issued by the same judge.
Moyo had been sued by Nyapokoto for work-related victimisation.
However, on March 6 2013, Chihuri filed for a stay of execution of Justice Cheda’s order to jail Moyo, but Justice Makonese upheld Justice Cheda’s order resulting in Chihuri conceding that the force would pay $64 000 in damages to Nyapokoto.
The police agreed to pay the amount within two months, but Chihuri made an about-turn and instead filed an application for rescission of the judgment. Moyo faces imprisonment if the damages are not paid.
