Sikhala bail judgment reserved

HIGH COURT Judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi yesterday reserved judgment in the application for bail appeal made by opposition leader Job Sikhala.

Justice Chitapi set the reading of his ruling for Monday February 1.

The Zengeza West legislator was arrested early January and charged with communicating falsehoods through his Twitter handle @JobSikhala1.

Sikhala, through his lawyers Harrison Nkomo and Jeremiah Bamu, had approached the High Court appealing for bail after a Harare magistrate denied him freedom.

They told the court that Sikhala’s co-accused — lawyer Fadzai Mahere and journalist Hopewell Chin’ono had been admitted to bail on the same charge.

Further to his defence, Sikhala told the judge that in one of his pending matters he was deemed not a flight risk.

They said both the State and the magistrate had misdirected their position by concluding that Sikhala’s behaviour demonstrated propensity to re-offend whilst facing another alleged offence.

The lawyers argued that the State did not present any similarities that Sikhala has a will to continue committing more offences whilst no court has convicted him.

The State, argued that Sikhala’s circumstances were different from his other accomplices and therefore should be handled differently.

According to the State, Sikhala allegedly committed a similar offence whilst on bail and there is likelihood that he might commit more.

Sikhala will be detained in an isolated cell at Chikurubi Maximum Prison as a precautionary measure to curb the Covid19 pandemic.