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Nyore Madzianike

Senior Court Reporter

HARARE regional magistrate Mr Ngoni Nduna yesterday deferred the bail ruling for Douglas Shoko, Paul Chimhungu, Stephen Tserai, Raphios Mufandauya and Gift Karanda, who are suspected to have played a role when Henrietta Rushwaya and Pakistan businessman, Ali Mohammed, allegedly attempted to smuggle gold to Dubai.

The bail ruling will be done today, after Mr Nduna said he was yet to go through submissions they made during their applications.

He expressed hope that he will be done by today, if everything goes according to plan, saying he wanted to go beyond working hours to ensure the ruling was ready for delivery.

He said he will notify the suspects’ lawyers through prosecution, once the ruling on their fresh bail bids, was ready.

The five, in their fresh bail applications, argued that a lot of time had lapsed since they were remanded in custody pending investigations, which they said were not complete despite police promising to end investigations by November 30 last year.

Through their lawyers, they also told the court that there were travel restrictions brought by the national lockdown, which addresses the State’s fears that they will abscond.

They also told the court that their co-accused, Rushwaya and Mohammed, had been granted bail and they should be treated equally.

Shoko and Chimhungu claimed they had been suspended from executing their duties as police officers, which means they will not be able to interfere with witnesses.

But the State opposed their applications, asserting that there were no changed circumstances as they had failed to show any changed circumstances.

“The first changed circumstances alleged by the accused is the effluxion of time,” said prosecutor Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti. “While it is accepted that the accused persons have been in custody for over 75 days, it is submitted that significant progress has been made towards bringing them to trial.

“Investigations are now complete and the docket has been forwarded to the National Prosecuting Authority for perusal and setting of a trial date.

“It is expected that the accused persons will probably be furnished with a trial date on their next remand appearance.”

Mr Mutsokoti submitted that the national lockdown brought about by the new wave of Covid-19 cases, was not a changed circumstance that warrants their release on bail.

He argued that granting them bail will compromise the reasons for which they were initially denied bail.

Responding to Shoko and Chimhungu’s contention that they had been suspended from their duties and could not afford to interfere with witnesses, the State said the accused were still members of the police and retained their ranks and therefore capable of interfering with witnesses.

Mr Mutsokoti added that Chimhungu failed to furnish the State with any documentation that proves he had been suspended from work.

He said the mere fact that Rushwaya and Ali Mohammad were granted bail did not take away their charges, hence the need to keep them in custody pending trial.

Shoko and Chimhungu had argued that a long time had lapsed since they were remanded in custody pending trial and that police had failed to abide by the date they had promised to complete investigations.

They also submitted that the new Covid-19 lockdown measures would restrict their movements and that they have since been suspended from work, which takes away the State’s fears of interfering with witnesses.