JAILED jazz artiste Duduzile Tracy Manhenga’s bid for freedom pending appeal against an 18-month jail term for culpable homicide hit a brickwall yesterday after it was dismissed by Harare magistrate Blessing Murwisi.
PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI SENIOR REPORTER
Murwisi ruled that prospects of the Bulawayo-born musician’s appeal at the High Court were not bright.
Manhenga’s lawyer Evans Moyo had launched a fresh bail application on the basis that he had filed an appeal at the High Court on behalf of his client against the “excessive” sentence.
Moyo also said the court had not considered his submissions that Manhenga was a first offender and that she also offered financial assistance during the funeral of the accident victim, Graham Martin Millward.
Although prosecutor Barbara Ndoro did not oppose the application, Murwisi said it was surprising since she was the one who had called for a deterrent sentence.
“It is surprising that the prosecutor consented after encouraging the court to consider imprisonment,” the magistrate said.
“The court stays with its sentence and the application is hereby dismissed.”
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Manhenga was convicted on her own plea of guilty to driving using a provisional licence without supervision and causing the death of Millward in a road accident in 2010 in Harare.
On Friday she was sentenced to 24 months behind bars and six were suspended on condition she does not commit a similar offence over the next five years.
