There was daylight drama in Mutoko on Wednesday when the resident magistrate went into a party with the lawyer of a man charged for a $40,000 Standard Chartered Bank theft, a few hours before acquitting the accused in mysteriously circumstances that have left the whole community shell shocked.
Resident Magistrate Edwin Marecha caused a scene Wednesday when he led a party hosted by the lawyer of the accused on the same case he would on the same day acquit the charged, Mr. Effort Chimhamba, the primary suspect in the case.
Mr Chimhamba is the chief suspect in the theft case which has seen two other colleagues being found guilty while he goes away scot free. The lawyer, a Mr Moyo, represented Effort Chimhamba, the first accused in the theft offence of $40 000 which went missing at Standard Chartered Bank in December last year. The second accused Clemence Nkalimbo, a bank teller and the third accused Tafara Ben Muunze were found guilty and will be sentenced on October 13 2014.
Most of the people who followed the proceedings of the case were left open-mouthed when Effort Chimhamba, who was the chief accused in the matter was found not guilty.
But what further shocked people was that the party was held right at the backyard of the court prior to the judgement on the case. There was an excess of braai-meat and there were still left overs afterwards.
The meat mysteriously bought in abundance, was acquired from a butchery owned by the magistrate.
Mr Moyo, the lawyer who represented Effort Chimhamba bought the meat from the resident magistrate Mr Marecha’s butchery which is a few meters from the magistrate’s court. Just after the party, the judgement on the case resumed, and Mr Moyo’s client was acquitted.
When contacted on Thursday morning, Magistrate Marecha did not deny attending the party hosted by the accused’s lawyer. He was asked: “Since you had a braai with the accused’s lawyer yesterday, people are saying you received money. How do you answer that?”. Asked thus if he received bribe money, he replied ZimEye saying: “ipfungwa dzavo, ipfungwa dzavo – these are just their thoughts,” he said while albeit agreeing that he did party with the accused’s lawyer.