BY CHARLES LAITON
Harare City Football Club player, Dennis Mukwesha is alleged to have been part of a group of protesters who allegedly torched a Zupco bus in Kuwadzana Extension during the protests that rocked the country two weeks ago.
Mukwesha (19), who was represented by his lawyer, Paidamoyo Saurombe yesterday appeared at the High Court where he was granted $50 bail by High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi. He is being charged alongside Tawanda Kunyima (23), Gerald Nyamukapa (27), Felix Makoto (20) and Nyasha Manyasha (22).
As part of his bail conditions, Mukwesha was ordered to reside at his given address, not to interfere with investigations and to report at Harare Central Police Station every Friday.
It is the State contention that on January 14, 2019, at around 10am, Mukwesha and his co-accused, some still at large, were at Whitehouse Shopping Centre along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway where they allegedly barricaded roads with boulders and burnt tyres before they threw missiles at the motoring public and set the Zupco bus ablaze.
The six suspects were arrested and incarcerated on January 21 this year on allegations of public violence.
However, during the bail hearing, prosecutor Tapiwa Kasema invited the arresting officer from the police intelligence unit, who gave evidence exonerating the six men from the crime.
The officer said the first person to be arrested was Manyasha, who later instigated the arrest of his co-accused persons. The officer said the six were never arrested for torching the bus and was surprised how the incident was being linked to the suspects.
