Vol.23 No.90

Friday 16 June 2006    

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News
I hope you did not dream about me - judge

GAOSWEDIWE NDINGILILO
Correspondent

6/16/2006 5:04:14 PM (GMT +2)

FRANCISTOWN: Justice Thomas Masuku was in a good mood when he jokingly expressed hope that an appellant did not have a bad dream about him. "I read in the case record that you had a bad dream about the magistrate and wanted him to recuse himself from the case," he told Thabani Moyo who answered in the affirmative.


The youthful Zimbabwean is appealing against a 2002 house breaking conviction and sentence. "Why are you not happy with the conviction," asked Masuku. Moyo responded by telling court that he was never shown the document from the forensic analyst. He said he was surprised to hear the document stated that the blood found at the house broken into matched his. Masuku told Moyo that stolen goods were found in his possession. But Moyo denied the allegations saying he was not staying alone. "Blood was found at the scene of the incident, you had a bandage seen on your hand and you were suspected. When the police went to your place, stolen goods were found," said Masuku. Though Moyo denied that he had an injury, Masuku concurred that the forensic analyst's affidavit was improperly introduced in court. "I was charged with the offence of burglary but the witness discovered it at 9am and it was not established when the burglary took place," argued Moyo. He stressed that the time factor makes a big difference between burglary and house breaking. This is because burglary occurs at night only and the sentence in the two crimes differ. "Why do you want me to interfere with the sentence," asked Masuku. Moyo requested for reduction of the sentence as he said he had been in custody for a long time. Masuku said he could not just change the sentence. He added that maybe the sentence was an emphasis of the crime committed by Moyo. He said the sentence might have been meant to induce shock or the magistrate did not account for the convict's personal circumstances. Meanwhile, the principal state counsel, Chipo Gaobatlwe said the affidavit was not clear whether Moyo was consulted. He said Moyo could be linked to the offence on the grounds that he was found in possession of the stolen items. A day after the house was broken into, he was seen with a bandage on the hand while the window pane was broken and blood was found in the house. "Either the appellant is a thief or the possession of goods is dishonest," said Gaobatlwe. Masuku has reserved judgement in the case. Send us your comments about Mmegi newspaper Search For Old Newspaper Editions To advertise contact us through email

 
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