By Desmond Chingarande
Suspended Chief Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe (pictured) was yesterday arrested on another charge of criminal abuse of office after he allegedly influenced a subordinate to recuse himself in a matter he had interests.
Guvamombe who is represented by Jonathan Samukange was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Morgan Nemadire.
The suspended Chief magistrate, is currently out on $3 000 bail for another case of criminal abuse of office after he granted internship to former Cabinet ministers, Saviour Kasukuwere and Supa Mandiwanzira, who are currently appearing before the courts .
The State opposed bail saying the accused was a flight risk and may interfere with witnesses who are all his subordinates, but the magistrate granted him bail with the same conditions as the other case.
Prosecutor Zivanai Macharaga had argued that if Guvamombe was convicted, he was likely to be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
But Samukange accused the State of abusing its powers against one of their superiors.
He said Guvamombe was arrested after reporting to the police station as part of his bail conditions on another charge.
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Samukange said police officers briefly detained him to humiliate him.
He said the offence was allegedly committed in 2016, but they deliberately did not join the charges with the initial charges.
Samukange said the Chief Justice and a High Court judge had already cleared Guvamombe of the charges he was arrested for.
The magistrate in question, Elijah Makomo, was allocated to preside over a criminal case in which property developer Nathan Mnaba was represented by Dumisani Mthombeni.
It is alleged that as the trial progressed, there were numerous applications made by the defence which were dismissed due to lack of merit, prompting the defence to demand that Makomo recuse himself from the case.
Guvamombe allegedly owns a 5 000 square metre stand in Borrowdale which he bought from Arosume Property Development (Pvt) Ltd owned by Mnaba.
