FOUR Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims jailed for burning police vehicles in August last year while resisting relocation to a new site from Chingwizi Transit Camp in Masvingo without compensation have launched a fresh bid for freedom. By Everson Mushava
Patrick Chinounda, Mike Mudyanehama, Nyengeterai Tagwirei and Samuel Mubaiwa were slapped with a five-year jail term each and in March, their application for bail pending appeal was dismissed.
The four, through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, have filed a fresh appeal against refusal of bail pending the outcome of the appeal.
Their first appeal in March this year was dismissed after the court ruled that chances of success were limited and that their five-year jail sentences were equivalent to the value of property they damaged.
The court also ruled that evidence linking them to the crime was overwhelming.
But the four argued that the magistrate erred in rejecting their bail application.
“The contention against both conviction and sentence is that the honourable magistrate in the court aquo erred in convicting the appellants given the evidence adduced by the State and also that the sentence is so excessive that it induces a sense of shock and is against the run and thrust of decided cases and not in accordance with real and substantial justice,” reads part of the application.
They argue that the court’s decision to deny them bail was based on a question of fact on the view of the appropriateness of their sentence, but did not involve itself in the enquiry of bail pending appeal by the applicants.
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“The court also erred and misdirected itself when it did not consider the concession of the State whose opinion commands respect of the court,” the four argued.
“It is submitted that the State’s opinion is invariably based on the established legal principles that underpin the criminal law of this country and is based on detailed research that the court does not have time to carry out on its own,” the four argued in the bail appeal.
The villagers were arrested when they resisted relocation of Chingwizi Transit Camp clinic to a new site earmarked for their resettlement.
Villagers allegedly turned violent after another attempt by the government to move the clinic in a bid to force them to accept relocation.
The villagers reportedly burnt two police vehicles after disarming riot police.
Masvingo police were later deployed to disperse the disgruntled villagers.
