The Constitutional Court will, for the first time, have to decide on the constitutionality of prosecuting a rape suspect following the withdrawal of a report by the complainant.
Yesterday, Harare magistrate Mrs Vongai Muchuchuti-Guwuriro granted Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader Walter Magaya’s application for referral of his rape case to the Concourt. Mrs Muchuchuti-Guwuriro also removed Magaya from remand pending the Concourt’s decision on whether or not his alleged rape case should be referred to the High Court after the complainant indicated that she lied against him.
The State insisted on formally charging Magaya for the trial at the High Court, arguing that it never tendered the complainant’s withdrawal affidavits to the court and that the withdrawal was not genuine. Mrs Guwuriro ruled that the Concourt should decide whether or not the decision by the Acting Prosecutor-General to indict Magaya when the complainant confessed that the rape allegations were false violated his constitutional rights.
More: Herald
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