CHINHOYI resident magistrate Nyasha Marufu has acquitted Makonde district medical officer Gift Masoja of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, ruling that prosecutors failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case stemmed from an incident on December 4 last year, when investigators from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), who were probing alleged bribery in the recruitment of student nurses at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital, questioned Masoja as a person of interest.
According to the State, investigators demanded that Masoja surrender his mobile phone during the investigation. When he refused and walked away, ZACC pursued criminal charges, alleging he had obstructed the course of justice.
Delivering judgment last week, Marufu found that the prosecution had failed to establish the essential elements of the offence.
Masoja's lawyer, Tungamirai Chamutsa, argued that his client was exercising his constitutional right to privacy because he had neither been arrested nor served with a valid search and seizure warrant when investigators demanded access to his phone.
"Shielded by his constitutional right to privacy, the medical chief was under absolutely no legal obligation to surrender his private data and communications simply because state agents demanded it," Chamutsa submitted during the trial.
Masoja maintained throughout the proceedings that exercising his constitutional rights could not amount to a criminal offence.
In the ruling, Marufu said the State's evidence, which relied heavily on testimony from a ZACC legal officer, was insufficient to prove that Masoja had the requisite criminal intent to defeat or obstruct the course of justice.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
The magistrate subsequently acquitted him.
