PROSECUTOR DENIED BAIL
THE prosecutor who consented to the granting of bail to the robbery suspects allegedly led by Musa Taj Abdul, was yesterday denied bail after the presiding magistrate ruled that his conduct when the arrest seemed imminent shows that he has the likelihood to abscond trial if granted bail.
Tapiwa Kasema was arrested last week after he reportedly went into hiding after he heard that the police wanted to arrest him for consenting to bail for the alleged robbers in what the State claims to be unclear circumstances.
Delivering his ruling, Harare regional magistrate Ngoni Nduna said:
“The accused person is said to be a principal law officer who represents the Prosecutor General in court and appeared on behalf of the State in the matter in question,. The accused person who were applying for bail are alleged to be facing 53 counts of robbery, rapes and murders and he consented to have the infamous ‘notorious’ group released on bail.
“The accused person has been arraigned to court and the State opposed bail basing on two grounds which are that he’s likely to abscond and that the State case is strong because there is overwhelming evidence against him. Both parties agreed that bail is a fundamental right and can only be denied where there are compelling reasons.
“The right to liberty is supreme and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty fortifies it and in the Criminal Procedure and Evidence act, bail laws are clear that seriousness of the offense alone is not a ground to deny an accused person bail.
“An accused person mustn’t suffer an advance punishment because the State is expecting a conviction. State alleges that he went into hiding and switched off his phones and owned up after his abscondment had been made public on social media and was looked for at his two addresses in vain. His absence from work is proof that he knew that his arrest was imminent,” he said.
Nduna added that the excuse that he didn’t know that he was about to be arrested is clearly a lie because even his phones were off as soon as the matter went viral.
“The excuse that his phones weren’t off and he wasn’t on the run because he had not been formally advised that he was under arrest is clearly a lie, it’s my finding that he took flight when he heard that the allegations were being considered for an arrest to be made, therefore no condition can ensure his attendance to court than imprisonment because he has shown that he has a likelihood to flee and because of that, I refuse to grant bail,” he said.