High Court Reserves Judgement On Thanx Chikore’s Bail Application
21 November 2020
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Tapiwa Makore

Thanks Makore (56) has approached the High Court seeking bail over his murder charges.

Makore was arrested last week on charges of masterminding the killing of seven-year-old Tapiwa Makore Jnr last September in Murewa.

Thanks Makore is an uncle to the late Tapiwa.

He is employed by the US Embassy in Harare and Friday pleaded not guilty in court since the murder took place while he was at his place of residence in Damofalls, Ruwa.

His bail appeal was heard by High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi who reserved the ruling to November 24.

However, the state opposed bail and called the investigating officer (IO) who told the court that the police intend to conduct further searches at Makore’s Warren Park residence in Harare, where his second wife resides.

The first search was carried out at his first wife’s place in Damofalls, and nothing was found.

“According to our Investigations, the applicant is the mastermind of the whole murder case and is alleged to be the one who received the missing parts of the deceased, arms and the head,” said the IO.

“The information we received is that the applicant is the one who approached accused one and two, his brother Tapiwa Makore Snr and Tafadzwa Shamba.

“The accused is the one who employed or gave the contract to these two accused or his accomplices. He promised to pay them $US$1 500 and his accomplices killed Tapiwa Makore.

“After the commission of the offence, the accused is said to have received the head and the arms of the deceased,” the IO told the court.

He said searches at Makore’s Warren Park residence are still to be conducted.

“The applicant is likely to interfere with witnesses if granted bail. So far, we are done at Damofalls where his first wife resides. We are left with Warren Park where his second wife resides,” the police officer told the court.

“We are still doing investigations and we are yet to finish searching. One of the main witnesses is related to the applicant. In fact, he is the son of the applicant’s young brother so the accused might interfere with the witness. The applicant is employed by the American Embassy, so if granted bail he might seek transfer and relocate from Zimbabwe and abscond.”

The IO said considering the gravity of the offence the accused is facing, if convicted he is likely to face a capital sentence, so if granted bail he will abscond.

“Another issue is when we were carrying out searches at his Damofalls residence, there was a mob who were looking for the applicant. In fact, they were throwing stones at his house so if granted bail he might be attacked by the mob.”

However, Makore’s lawyer said the police were merely implicating his client without any valid evidence placed before the court.

He said the accused was arrested two months down after the murder had been committed and asked how the police had concluded that Thanks Makore was the mastermind of the crime.

Makore said he wanted to be released on bail so he can fend for his family and raise legal fees for his upcoming murder trial.