Court Correspondent
If the courts continue to entertain Tendai Biti’s applications for postponement in his assault case, his trial will never happen “during our lifetime”, senior prosecutor Mr Michael Reza said last Friday.
This came after Biti’s lawyer, Mr Alec Muchadehama, applied for another postponement, saying the State should give the defence a record of proceedings for the previous sittings.
Biti is facing charges of manhandling Russian investor Ms Tatiana Aleshina outside Harare Magistrates Court.
Mr Reza opposed Mr Muchadehama’s application, saying a time had to come when the court must put its foot down and say enough is enough.
“Every single application that the accused person is entitled to has been made in this court,” he said and added that numerous applications for postponements had been granted at the instigation of the defence.
“The record of proceedings does not stop these proceedings,” said Mr Reza. “This is the time for this court to order the commencement of this trial, otherwise it will not start off during our lifetime.”
On the previous sitting, Harare magistrate Mrs Vongai Muchuchuti Guwuriro, dismissed for the second time Biti’s application for her recusal.
Mr Muchadehama, who was not present when the application was dismissed, sent one of his juniors to postpone the matter to May 27 saying he would be engaged at the High Court until that day.
Mr Reza vehemently opposed the postponement saying the trial had taken long to start.
He said Mr Muchadehama and Biti were just seeking postponements to delay trial.
In dismissing the latest application for recusal, Mrs Muchuchuti Guwuriro said the mere possibility of bias must be proven in such applications.
The court cannot be said to be biased because it has made a ruling which is not in favour of an accused person.
“The accused failed to show bias as required by the law. The accused wants this court’s recusal without legal basis, therefore his application is dismissed,” she said.
In his application, Biti said he had then filed seven cases against Mrs Muchuchuti Guwuriro, meaning she was now his opponent.
Biti told the court that he felt he would not get a free and fair trial before her.