By Perpetua Murungweni
The trial of Zanu PF Masvingo Youth Chairperson Delight Mandebvu, in which he is being accused of assaulting former Masvingo Mayor Collen Maboke in March this year has finally commenced, with Mandebvu recently appearing before Masvingo Magistrate Franklin Mukwananzi.
Mandebvu’s defense lawyer Tatenda Fredy Chimbadzwa however lobbied for postponement of the trial, accusing the court of forcing him to commence with the trial while he was not served with relevant documents regarding the case which he said he had not yet received.
“There are several court papers that are missing which include the witness statement of one Aaron Chidhanguro, the medical reports, the charge sheet, outline of the State’s case and the docket. Communication concerning these documents was made and the state was present on the day of request.
“These documents were not served to the defense counsel and it is only today during court that I am told that these papers were reverted to the police and no reasons have been given as to why the documents were sent back to the police. I am told that the court is proceeding with the trial even though the accused’s papers are yet to be served to me,” said Chimbadzwa.
Chimbadzwa said it was not fair to commence with the trial while he was not given a chance to inspect his client’s papers.
“I was not given a chance to inspect the accused papers and confirm if the papers are still the same. The defense does not know if the papers are still the same and what they contain.
“The defense cannot be dragged to commence the trial in the absence of these documents, while it is clear that it is the state’s fault that these documents have not been served to me,” said Chimbadzwa.
The state led by prosecutor Godknows Mugondo dismissed the defense’s claim and said the papers had been served to the accused person and the accused person signed an affidavit as acknowledgment of receipt.
“The accused person was served with the court papers and signed an affidavit acknowledging receipt on April 30, 2024 and this is evidence that the accused received all these mentioned to be missing documents. The claim that the papers are missing is not true,” said Mugondo.
Mugondo also said the case was long overdue and it was because of the accused lack of cooperation.
“The trial has been long overdue because on May 8, the date that was set for the trial, the accused person and his defense lawyer excused themselves from trial and it was postponed to May 21.
“On May 21 the accused person appeared alone without his defense lawyer and pleaded with the court to postpone trial claiming that he was sick and produced medical documents from a doctor. The trial was postponed again to May 28 when the accused did not show up and from that time the court did not hear nor see the accused person in court.
“The court later found out from the media that the accused person was in South Africa conducting an election campaign, and during this time one Mr Mugabe from Harare sent us a letter saying that he would come to court on behalf of the accused person because the accused person was in South Africa on State duty,” said Mugondo.
Mugondo said the court should proceed with trial because the accused was served with the documents and had full knowledge that the trial was today.
“The accused then came in my absence for a default inquiry with my fellow prosecutor who had no knowledge of the case and the trial was postponed to today, July 2. The accused and his lawyer had full knowledge that the matter was coming for trial today and there is no excuse for the trial not commence today.
“The accused person was served with all the papers as required by the criminal act; the accused person seems to be playing delaying games from the onset,” said Mugondo.
The magistrate dismissed the defense’s plea of postponement and proceeded with the trial which he then deferred to July 8 for sentencing
It is a state’s case that on March 2, 2024 Mandebvu assaulted former Masvingo Mayor Collen Maboke and his wife after the latter’s car side-swapped the vehicle the ruling party youth leader was traveling in along the Masvingo-Nyika road.
In May, Mandebvu, went on to file attempted murder charges alleging he was hit by Maboke’s vehicle, not by any other vehicle as had been reported.
