Former Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana and former Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri are expected back in court after the Supreme Court referred back to trial the case in which the duo are facing a $400 000 suit for the unlawful arrest and prosecution of Harare lawyer, Mr Mordecai Pilate Mahlangu, senior partner at Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans.
Mahlangu was a key witness in the trial of the late former MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett for terrorism nine years ago. He was arrested in November 2009 and spent a night in police cells after he prepared an affidavit indicating that Mutare arms dealer Michael Peter Hitschmann was not going to testify because the evidence that the State recorded was obtained through torture. Mahlangu was accused of having written the affidavit on Hitschmanns’ behalf and caused him to sign it when he approached him for advice. He was charged with trying to obstruct the course of justice.
After his acquittal he sued Tomana and Chihuri along with two detectives; Henry Dowa and Clever Ntini for unlawful arrest. He lost his case in the High Court before Justice Priscilla Chigumba, who upheld the preliminary point raised by the quartet’ lawyers, who argued that their clients could not be sued in their personal capacities because the actions they were being sued for were done in the discharge of their official duties. The lawyers argued their clients should have been sued in their official capacity.
More: Herald
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