By Tendai Chisiri
The adage justice delayed is justice denied seems to be the situation in a car theft case at Harare Magistrate Court as the trial date keeps on being postponed leaving the complainant a frustrated person.
A former magistrate is facing charge of car theft which at one stage was theft of trust after he did not return a car he was given by his cousin brother belonging to a Banket resident.
The car in question, a Honda fit is at police station because there should be a court sentence to prove that the accused is guilty of stealing it.
In a letter addressed to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) seen by this publication, the complainant is describing his case as one that has been delayed a lot, inconveniencing him as he travels from Banket to be told that the trial date has been postponed.
It is the state case that the complainant lost his Honda fit to someone who later gave it to the accused. The case was reported at Harare Central Police Station in the first week of August 2022.
Investigations led to the recovery of the car around July 2023 at a company in Harare and it had been used as a collateral. The car was then taken to the police station where it can be released after a court sentence.
The car theft case at the magistrate court was set down on 26th of July 2023 and the trial date was set for 24th of January according to the letter by the complainant.
The case did not start on 24th of January as the lawyer of the accused said the state papers were not in order and it was postponed to 14th of February.
On 14th of February, the magistrate said she worked very closely with the accused before, so she recuse herself. The case was moved to another court in the afternoon. After change of court, the accused said he got a doctor’s note stating that he has high blood pressure and can not continue with the case. The trial was deferred again to 29th of February.
Another postponement of the trial date occurred on the 29th February to 1st of March as the accused had a new lawyer and the lawyer asked time to peruse the case. On 1st of March, the trial date was postponed because of the information that the accused had been arrested the previous day on the charge of fraud.
Nothing was said in the court pertaining to the next trial date and upon questioning the public prosecutor, the complainant was told to contact the prosecutor on the 4th of March on when the trial date will be set.
The complainant in the letter is aggrieved that his request to be given his car back with all the evidences provided that the car is his is not futile. The court will be postponing the trial date for fifth time and at the time of publication , the complainant does not have a trial date and it is not possible for the release of the car without court sentence.
‘’ Every time there is postponement of the trial date and the accused came with an offer to settle outside the courts and these postponements are inconveniencing me as each time I have to travel from Banket only to be given another date”, the complainant stated in the letter.
The accused want to give $400 US which is little compared to the value of $1 500 US given by the complainant.
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