BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA
HIGH Court judge Justice Happias Zhou has stayed trial of MDC MDC Alliance activists Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri which was set for yesterday, pending determination of their application to challenge separation of trial.
Chimbiri and Marova were separated from co-accused, Harare West legislator Joanah Mamombe in a matter in which they are being accused of faking their own abduction.
The State, led by prosecutor Michael Reza, successfully applied for Mamombe to be separated from her alleged accomplices in the matter, stating that the doctors had provided conflicting information on when she would be fit to stand trial.
Their lawyer Alec Muchadehama successfully filed an urgent chamber application to stop the trial before ruling on their application for a review of magistrate Bianca Makwande’s ruling to separate the three.
“Pending the outcome of the application for review in case HC7200/20, the trials of the applicants while separated be and are hereby stayed,” stated Justice Zhou in the ruling.
The trio appeared before magistrate Ngoni Nduna yesterday, who remanded them to January 22, 2021.
