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CID boss in USA hunt for Baba Jukwa

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POLICE Law and Order boss, Assistant Commissioner Chrispen Makedenge, has travelled to the United States of America to hunt for evidence

POLICE Law and Order boss, Assistant Commissioner Chrispen Makedenge, has travelled to the United States of America to hunt for evidence which could implicate Baba Jukwa suspects.

CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER

Makedenge is expected to approach Google and Facebook as the State intensifies its investigations in a quest to gather evidence against Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudzayi and his elder brother Philip, who are suspected to be behind the shadowy Facebook character and blogger widely known as Baba Jukwa, the court heard yesterday.

The two brothers who are facing charges of attempting to subvert a constitutional government by waging “cyber-terrorism” against the State through the use of the social network, Facebook, were back at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday where they made a second bid to be removed from routine remand.

Prosecutor-General (PG)’s representative Sharon Mashavira told provincial magistrate Milton Serima that Makedenge had already left the country and was expected back by the end of the week or early next week.

The revelations by the State followed an application for further remand refusal by the Kudzai brothers through their lawyer Admire Rubaya.

“We did a chase-up on the matter and last month we went to undertake extra-territorial investigations from Google and Facebook. Assistance Commissioner Makedenge has already left and is currently carrying out investigations in the USA and should be back by the end of this week or early next week,” Mashavira said.

“Considering that the accused have only been on remand for three months, it cannot be said their trial has been delayed more so given the nature of charges they are facing. They are not facing one charge, but a number of charges and it is a complex matter involving extra-territorial investigations.”

In response to the State’s request for further remand, Rubaya, urged the court to consider removing his clients from remand and order the State to proceed against them by way of summons.

Rubaya said it was apparent from the continuous further remands requested by the State that the PG’s Office was not yet ready to proceed to trial.

His request was in response to prosecutor Mashavira’s submission that it was too early for the Kudzai brothers to seek removal from remand given the complexity of the matter.

Rubaya further said he was not amused by the State’s stance since it had always “sung from the same hymn book all the times”: “The State is trampling on accused persons’ rights. There is no indication that there is any movement from what they said last time,” Rubaya said.

“When any government official leaves the country on an official business, the Cabinet approves such a trip and in this case there is nothing which the State is producing in the form of authority from Cabinet to at least show us that indeed the said officer left the country for that business, except by word of mouth.”

“The State has not proven as to why the accused persons should continue being remanded. We are requesting that the State be given all the time in the world and proceed against the accused by way of summons. Otherwise we wait until the second coming of Jesus and we do not know when,” Rubaya said amid laughter from the gallery.