SIX of the eight men arrested on arson charges after they torched a Zupco bus and a car belonging to Chegutu East legislator Webster Shamu’s wife, Constance, during the recent violent protests that rocked Harare and other cities, were yesterday jailed to five years each.
BY COURT REPORTERS
Regional magistrate Elijah Makomo acquitted two of them due to lack of evidence while their ring leader, Emmanuel Chari, who drove the bus off the Harare-Bulawayo Highway before torching it near Whitecliff, was sentenced to seven years.
In Mutare, Trymore Nyamaropa was sentenced to a three-year jail term by provincial magistrate Sekai Chiundura for obstruction of traffic.
Marondera magistrate Pasipanodya Maturure yesterday acquitted 13 of the 18 men who were accused of destroying a police station on January 15, after the
State failed to prove that they were involved in the violent protests.
The trial of their five alleged accomplices continues today.
In Chinhoyi, six people were acquitted of public violence charges.
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In Mashonaland Central, Guruve magistrate Shingirai Mutiro acquitted Ernest Gandayi, who was facing charges of obstructing the free movement of persons or traffic, saying the State had failed to prove a prima facie case against him.
In Harare, court officials blamed prison officers for failing to bring female prisoners to court, thereby stalling their trial.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union leaders Peter Mutasa and Japhet Moyo, who stand accused of seeking to subvert a constitutionally-elected government by inciting public violence, have been remanded in custody to February 8.
Magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa advised them to approach the High Court for bail application.
