State witness in the trial of Borman Ngwenya,a soldier accused possessing weaponry, treason and money-laundering today confirmed that Ngwenya was on duty when the suspected offences were committed.Ngwenya, one of the four men accused of attempting to petrol bomb the first family’s Alpha Omega Dairy in Mazowe on Friday told the court that he was on a military sanctioned operation, which he was tasked to do by this superiors from Zimbabwe National Army- to monitor and trap Owen Kachata- the President of Zimbabwe People’s Front party who was last month sentenced to nine years for banditry and two years for money-laundering.
State witness Det Insp, Morgan Chafa confirmed this while being cross examined by Ngwenya’s lawyer, Exactly Mangezi.
“The accused was on duty when he was reprimanded,” said Chafa during the cross-examination session.
Another Witness Franklin Mufaro Chipendo, who is the Quality Assurance Officer at the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, said evidence from the exhibit tests revealed that the fertilizer and sand that was mixed in 750 ml bottles confirm that the accused was in possession of a fertilizer bomb.
He said that accused was in possession of improvised explosive devices meant to induce explosion or fire
He however said the improvised explosive device was primarily capable of causing damage though he could not detect the intensity of the damage that the device was set to cause.
“We did not measure the impact the mixture could have,” said Chipendo adding that the fertilizer grain used was not the explosive grade.
He also said that the grade does not start but can sustain a fire.
Regional Magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni remanded the case to 23 March 2016.
