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A key state witness, Detective Inspector Trust Gomo, was slapped with a warrant of arrest for failing to attend court to mark the beginning of the trial of GALZ administrative employee Ellen Agnes Chademana on Monday 26 July 2010.
Magistrate Archie Wochiunga issued the warrant after Chademana’s lawyers, David Hofisi and Jeremiah Bamu, had indicated on 19 July, when Gomo failed to appear in court, that should the case fail to kick off on the sixth hearing of the matter which was on Monday 26 July, they were applying for refusal of a further remand, following numerous postponements.
The warrant was later revoked in the afternoon on Monday when Gomo appeared in court and stated that he had attended a fellow police officer’s funeral, which he said prompted his delay to take the witness stand.
The magistrate however cancelled the warrant and deferred the matter to 2 August after revelations that Rufaro Mhandu who is the state prosecutor in this case had called in sick.
“This case is taking long it has been two months now before trial even begins. Our application for refusal of further remand still stands if on 2 August there will be more excuses. This means the case will have to be struck off the court roll and if it is to start again, new summons will have to be served to our client”, Hofisi said.
Chademana and colleague Ignatuious Mhambi were arrested on 21 May and for almost a week after a police raid at the offices of Gay And Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) premises alleging that the organisation was in possession of dangerous drugs and pornographic material.
Muhambi was arrested for allegedly possessing a pornographic DVD and booklet while Chademana was accused of possessing a pornographic picture. Chademana is facing charges of contravening section 26(1) of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act (Chapter10:04)
Meanwhile Mhambi, who was also facing similar charges, has since been acquitted. The two are yet to appear in court again facing charges of Insulting or Undermining the Authority of the President. These charges arose from a declaration given to the organisation by Former San Francisco Mayor Willie L Brown which denounces Government and the leader’s homophobia.
This entry was posted on Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 11:49 am and is filed under Breaking News, Zimbabwe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
