The trial of Bikita West MP Munyaradzi Kereke (Zanu PF) on charges of raping and indecently assaulting his relatives’ under-age daughters continued at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday, with the magistrate ruling against the legislator’s intention to use police-typed witness statements as opposed to handwritten ones while cross-examining witnesses.
PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
Regional magistrate Noel Mupeiwa made the ruling after private prosecutor Charles Warara objected to the use of the police-typed statements, arguing the police had not correctly transcribed the statements during typing.
“We object to the typed statements based on our discovery that the police did not do a good job in transcribing the statements from long-hand to typing and now the two statements are inconsistent,” Warara said.
“In addition, the police-typed statements were not signed by the witnesses and, therefore, are not statements and, hence, they can only use the handwritten statements for cross-examination purposes.”
Warara made the objection when the defence lawyer intended to cross-examine the third witness, Sally Ndanatsei Maramwidze, an aunt of the two complainants, and being the one who received the initial sexual abuse report.
The lawyer, from Mutandiro and Partners, argued the statement should be used since the complainants were earlier examined using them.
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“The defence cannot be barred from objecting because they had not noticed the issue earlier. You can only cross-examine based on the handwritten statements,” the magistrate said.
In her evidence, Maramwidze narrated how the two minors revealed their abuse to her when they visited her for an overnight stay at her home.
She said the second complainant, then aged 11, asked to have a private conversation with her, where she narrated her ordeal at the hands of Kereke before she broke-down in tears, asking her to break the news to her mother who is resident in the United Kingdom.
Maramwidze then sought the minor’s permission to tell her husband and the extended family, leading to the filing of the police report.
Under cross-examination, Maramwidze remained consistent in her evidence and told the court she had no motive to lie against Kereke.
At one point, Mupeiwa cautioned the lawyer after his cross-examination degenerated into a quarrel with Maramwidze, reminding him to conduct himself with decorum.
Meanwhile, the defence successfully applied for Doctor Edwin Chanakira, who produced the medical affidavit after examining the minor, to come and testify in person. The trial continues today.
