HIGH Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe, last Friday, slapped the leader of the now-defunct Jerusalem Apostolic Faith Church, Jonathan Mutsinze, with a dual life prison term, bringing the 16-year-old murder case to its logical conclusion.
SENIOR COURT REPORTER
Mutsinze escaped the hangman’s noose after being convicted of murdering Lesmore Kange and Willis Konje during a robbery that occurred sometime in 1998.
Mutsinze’s murder trial took many twists and turns after he raised a complaint and made an application for permanent stay of prosecution at the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) arguing that he had spent close to 10years in prison without sentence.
He further accused Justice Hungwe of siting on his case for too long, thereby infringing on his constitutional right to a fair trial within a reasonable time.
His application was, however, dismissed by the ConCourt early this month for lack of merit.
Instead, the ConCourt accused Mutsinze of causing the disappearance of his court papers, thereby rendering the completion of the matter on time virtually impossible.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku then remitted Mutsinze’s murder case back to Justice Hungwe for sentence.
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Mutsinze last appeared before Justice Hungwe in March 2003 when his court record of proceedings mysteriously disappeared.
After spending over a decade while awaiting sentence, Mutsinze then made five attempts to be released on bail, but all were dismissed by different judges.
During the reconstruction of the court record, Justice Hungwe filed an affidavit in which he accused Mutsinze of having had a hand in the disappearance of the court papers.
