Cephas Shava
MWENEZI – A former employee to Pastor Julius Chimbi of the Covenant Faith Ministry is standing trial in the Mwenezi Magistrates Court for assaulting the pastor and his wife after they allegedly failed to pay the money they owed him.
Appearing before Mwenezi Magistrate Honest Musiwa, Emmanuel Masendeke of Chaka village under Chief Gutuza in Chirumhanzu pleaded innocent to charges of assaulting Beauty Chakwesha, a teacher at Chingami Primary school in Mwenezi.
Masendeke dismissed Chakwesha’s medical report which was produced in court saying the complainant and her husband were out to fix him for demanding that they give him his money.
“Chakwesha’s medical report was fabricated because she is well-connected to Neshuro Hospital….After all, they have a track record of not paying their workers. The misunderstanding between me and the complaint’s husband is that he suspected that I was having an affair with his wife,” Masendeke told the court.
Pastor Chimbi, however, told the court that he suspects he was targeted because he had once expressed his discomfort after finding his wife Chakwesha and Masendeke in his (pastor’s) bedroom putting a mosquito net.
The State case led by prosecutor Willard Chasi is that on March 17, 2017, around 16:00 hrs, Masendeke approached Chakwesha and Chimbi at Chingami Primary School and asked that he be reimbursed for buying fuel for the couple’s kombi when he still worked as their conductor.
Chimbi could not give Masendeke a convincing answer leading to the assault which left the victims injured.
The trial will continue next week.local
