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Mugabe motorcade interceptor fights 2-year jail sentence

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A Harare man, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment last month for intercepting President Robert Mugabe’s motorcade with his truck, has approached the High Court challenging his conviction and sentence.

A Harare man, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment last month for intercepting President Robert Mugabe’s motorcade with his truck, has approached the High Court challenging his conviction and sentence.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

Joseph Chakanetsa (28) was convicted on three counts of contravening the Road Traffic Act by Harare magistrate Tendai Rusinahama.

The charges were of failing to halt or remain stationary during the passing of the motorcade and failing to obey a lawful instruction from a police officer, for which he was made to pay a $100 fine per count.

He was further sentenced to two years imprisonment for reckless driving.

Chakanetsa was also prohibited from driving motor vehicles for a period of six months and banned for life from driving commuter omnibuses and heavy motor vehicles. In appealing against sentence, Chakanetsa’s lawyers from Gama and Partners argued the court failed to consider special circumstances of their client.

The lawyers indicated that a tipper was not an ordinary vehicle and could not be easily halted.

“It is common cause that when driving such a vehicle, it produces a lot of noise, it is not easy to apply emergency brakes on it. It was dangerous and life threatening for the accused (Chakanetsa) to apply emergency brakes. It would have caused harm to other motorists or himself,” the defence said.

The lawyers proposed that because of special circumstances Chakanetsa should be sentenced to 1 000 hours of community service and be fined $100 for the first two counts. They further proposed he should be suspended from driving motor vehicles for a period of six months.

The incident occurred on June 18 this year around 4pm when the President was on his way to his Borrowdale home, while Chakanetsa was driving an ERF tipper vehicle turning into Borrowdale Road.

The convict is said to have failed to stop, and preceded into an intersection, while Mugabe’s motorcade was passing.