Former Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke yesterday again accused ex-Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono of being behind his imprisonment over rape charges.
Source: Gono behind my incarceration: Kereke – NewsDay Zimbabwe September 28, 2016
BY CHARLES LAITON
He claimed his former boss influenced the girl’s guardian to pursue the rape matter by offering him tractors.
Kereke, who is serving a 10-year jail term, made the remarks through his lawyers, Advocate Thabani Mpofu, who was assisted by Advocate Sylvester Hashiti, while urging High Court judge Justice Happias Zhou to grant him bail pending appeal.
Judgment was provisionally set for October 7.
Mpofu said Kereke did not commit the alleged rape on an 11-year-old girl as alleged by the State, but was incriminated due to political interference and Gono’s involvement in the plot.
“It was Gideon Gono who offered the girl’s guardian (Francis Maramwidze) tractors in return for him to pursue the matter,” Mpofu told the court, while dismissing claims that his client was convicted due to overwhelming evidence.
Mpofu further said it was not true that his client raped the girl on the day in question given that the house was full of people and that it was not possible for the girl to have been sexually abused at around 3am without her screaming and raising alarm, taking into account that she claimed she was a virgin.
“This could only have been possible if the applicant (Kereke) used a red-hot stiletto while accessing a previously un-accessed (sic).
Walls of Jericho were being penetrated and being broken and she must have screamed, but she said she was unable to do so and nobody came to her rescue, but the house was full of people,” Mpofu said.
The advocate said the magistrate misdirected himself when he convicted his client while the trial was marred with evidence which was not corroborated, but filled with inconsistencies.
In response, private prosecutor Charles Warara urged the court to dismiss the application, arguing the conviction was above board.
Warara said Kereke was a man of no fixed aboard and, as such, he was a flight risk if released on bail, given his connections outside the country.
“The court (magistrate) made a finding of fact that the appellant lied throughout his trial. He interfered with his witnesses by making them sign affidavits to support his case and there was substantial evidence of interference with the docket itself at the police station,” Warara said.
“Attempts were made to destroy the docket and he fabricated the evidence to destroy the case.
“All the evidence available points to a cunning and crafty applicant . . . his defence collapsed and he has no prospects of success on appeal.”
COMMENTS