INCARCERATED human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, who was arrested last Sunday over allegations of attempting to defeat the course of justice, will spend the weekend in remand prison after Harare High Court judge Justice Joseph Musakwa postponed her bail application to next Monday.
CHARLES LAITON
Musakwa’s ruling yesterday followed an application by State prosecutor Michael Mugabe who sought to have the matter dealt with in the afternoon on the basis that he had not had ample time to respond to Mtetwa’s application.
Mugabe submitted that he had been served with the application in the late hours of Thursday, but the papers were not in order to enable him to file a proper response.
Although Mtetwa’s lawyer, Advocate Thabani Mpofu, persuaded the court to have the matter dealt with in the afternoon, his application was not granted and the court ruled in favour of the State resulting in disgruntled murmurs from scores of lawyers and human rights activists who had packed the courtroom.
Mtetwa was arrested after she had gone to represent Prime Minister’s Office staffers, Thabani Mpofu, Felix Matsinde, Mehluli Tshuma and Warship Dumba, who had been arrested over allegations of possessing materials that could be used to commit offences.
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They were all denied bail by Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa on Wednesday.
Mtetwa’s legal team member Chris Mhike told journalists after the court proceedings that they had also filed a bail application for the other four which was expected to be heard next week.