Biti ruling deferred

HARARE magistrate Mrs Vongai Guwuriro has deferred to February 26, judgment in the case in which lawyer and politician Tendai Biti is facing an assault charge.

She postponed the ruling after indicating that she had received closing submissions late and therefore, she could not finish writing her ruling.

Biti is facing allegations of verbally assaulting Mrs Tatiana Aleshina at the Harare Magistrates Court on November 30, 2020.

In his closing submissions, prosecutor Mr Michael Reza said the words that were used by Harare lawyer Tendai Biti to insult Mrs Aleshina were not expected from a lawyer of such seniority.

Mr Reza submitted that Biti used disrespectful words to describe the alleged assault victim.

“He boasted in court that he had more than 30 years experience in the legal field and that he was a lawyer of repute. He used some of the most disrespectful words to describe the complainant, words which are not expected to be used by a lawyer of such seniority,” said Mr Reza.

He said Biti conceded that he was appearing in other courts where he was representing clients that were in conflict with the complainant.

Mr Reza also submitted that during trial, Biti had falsely accused the complainant of having a hand in the appointment of Government functionaries and commissioners to run the Harare City Council.

“Some of the things she is alleged to have done were as far back as 2002 when there is no evidence that she was even in Zimbabwe, but the accused blamed her anyway,” the State submitted.

The State further submitted that all three witnesses who testified against Biti corroborated their testimonies leaving the State’s being proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Biti is denying committing the offence and also challenged the assault by gesture charge. He said he was being charged under an unconstitutional Act.

He said he did not know Mrs Aleshina prior to November 30, 2020 when the incident allegedly happened.

He said his conversation with the complainant did not last a minute, adding that he was not angry on the day in question.