The High Court has granted Allessandro Marconati, the son of Marondera businessman Francesco Marconati, a US$300 bail pending appeal after the pair had approached the higher court with an application to overturn a sentence imposed by a Harare magistrate.
Three months ago, Marconati and his son were convicted by Magistrate Simon Kandiero in a matter involving the businessman’s former business partner, Li Song, and subsequently sentenced to complete 105 hours of community service.
However, the High Court application that was filed on 17 June, comes on the heels of recent headlines alleging that the pair failed to comply with the order, leading to a warrant of arrest being issued against them.
Francesco was arrested and held for four days, but was eventually exonerated when the State’s case against him collapsed due to lack of evidence.
Furthermore, it emerged that he had already fulfilled a significant portion of his community service obligation, completing 91 hours, which contradicted the State’s assertions that he had failed to comply with the court’s order.
Responding to the application, Justice Zhou ordered that,
“The applicant (Allessandro) be and is hereby admitted to bail pending appeal on the condition that he shall deposit a sum of US$300.00 with the Clerk of Court, Harare Magistrates Court. Applicant shall continue to reside at No 91 Piers Road, Borrowdale, Harare until the appeal is finalised.
“Applicant shall report at Borrowdale Police Station once every fortnight on a Friday between the hours of 0600hours and 1800 hours until the appeal is finalised.
“The applicant shall attend the hearing of his appeal and the noting of the judgment therein.
“The applicant shall be excused from performing community service during the pendency of his appeal.”
In their application for appeal , Marconati and his son alleged that the complaints against them stem from Li Song’s malicious motives, driven by a personal vendetta resulting from their irreconcilable rift.
“The court-a-quo grossly misdirected itself and erred at law in convicting the Appellants on the basis that they had faced various charges on account of the complainant and therefore harboured a motive to abuse, insult and threaten her when in fact the Court a quo conceded that the complainant hod a motive to lie against the Appellants owing to their irretrievably broken down business relationship,” they said.
Furthermore, they contended that the court had erred by relying on oral testimony from two witness, Li Song and Bernadette Mukuku, that was inconsistent with their written statements, leading to a misdirection in the case.
“The Court a quo grossly misdirected itself and erred at law by relying on both witnesses’ oral testimony which was materially different from their respective written statements, thereby rendering the entire evidence unreliable and unsafe to secure a conviction,” they said.
Marconati also added that on the day of the alleged offence, he was not at the Harare Magistrate’s Court.
“The Court-a-quo grossly misdirected itself and fell into error in disregarding the 1st Appellant’s (Francesco) alibi defense that he was not at the Harare Magistrates Court on the alleged date of the crime and accepting the State’s version that the 1st Appellant had court proceedings on 28 September 2023 when there is no court record to confirm that position.
“The Court-a-quo erred in not considering a fine and imposing community service on the basis that the conduct of the Appellants was aggravated by the fact that it was not committed at an ordinary public place but at the Court house and therefore borders on contempt when in actual fact there was no evidence of the commission of the offence by the Appellants at the Court house,” he said.
Meanwhile, Francesco Marconati recently filed a complaint with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Authority(ZACC) alleging that he was recently arrested based on a fraudulent warrant.
Marconati contends that the legal proceedings against him were instigated by his former business partner, Li Song. The two are currently embroiled in multiple court battles, with Marconati filing a High Court application alleging that the prosecution is a tactic to silence him after he exposed a large-scale money laundering scheme involving an organized syndicate.
