Michael Mzwinila wins another sentence reduction
Sharon Mathala | Tuesday May 13, 2014 11:06
The Court of Appeal on Friday upheld Mzwinila’s 12-year jail sentence but backdated it to include the time he spent behind bars before he was convicted and jailed in 2010.
The robber was initially convicted and sentenced to a 15-year jail term together with his brother Edward Mzwinila. Michael’s sentence was reduced to 12 years on appeal in 2011 on the basis that he was a first time offender.
On Friday, he got another reduction when president of the Court of Appeal, Ian Kirby said he would be credited for time he spent in custody awaiting trial especially since the state had fairly conceded that his appeal should succeed.
Kirby said it was only fair that the appellant be credited with the time, as the magistrate did not analyse the period that Michael spent in pre-trial custody despite dealing with the appeal against conviction and briefly with sentence. He said that the Magistrate, Mercy Garekwe should have dealt with convicting and sentencing Michael together with his brother Edward, separately.
“In considering the issue of backdating, the magistrate lumped the cases of Edward and Michael together and she did not analyse the period each spent in custody,” he said.