THE prosecution is opposing bail for the 26 CCC members who allegedly gathered at the house of their party’s Member of Parliament in Budiriro allegedly to disturb public peace.
They are all charged with gathering with intent to cause public violence and could be jailed for five years each upon conviction and that makes it likely they would wish to evade trial.
Mr Zebadiah Bofu, appearing for the State with Mr Pardon Dziva and Mr Micheal Reza, in opposing granting of the 26 bail, said: “The seriousness of the offence might induce them not to attend court. There is greater incentive to abscond. They face a jail term of up to five years upon conviction although sentencing remains the discretion of the trial court.”
The State also wants to ensure none of the 26 interfere with witnesses.
Mr Bofu said the evidence given by two police officers will assist in shedding light on how the 26 were arrested.
They were arrested close to the house of Budiriro constituency MP Costa Machingauta, and he allegedly scaled the precast wall and only surrendered himself to police after three days due to pressure.
“Court should not find favour in that since it could be said pressure was mounting on him,” he said.
Mr Bofu said the police did not use the drag-net approach as the 26 claim, as witnesses testified that the police were strategically positioned before making arrests.
He said the CCC members’ claims that their gathering was peaceful and legal, falls away as they were arrested at a time when they were rowdy, ululating, and disturbing peace in the process.
“Accused were aware and had foreseen commissioning of crime and chose to associate themselves in the criminal act and it should be apportioned to them. They had common purpose and participated or were reckless to see whether the crime would take place,” Mr Bofu said.
Lawyer Mr Chris Mhike, in the bail application, alleged that the arrests were politically motivated as they were only targeted at those wearing yellow. He said his clients were not flight risks and would abide by any bail conditions which will be imposed by the court.
“If they belonged to any other party that is not CCC this would have turned out differently.
“We did hear from the first State (the investigating officer) witness how they targeted those with yellow. It entrenches the fact that people belonging to CCC were targets”.
He said the risk of absconding would be cured by a directive that all 26 live at their given addresses and there was no evidence that these addresses were false.
The bail application continues today before Harare magistrate Mrs Yeukai Dzuda. – The Herald
