Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono will remain behind bars after High Court judge Justice David Foroma reserved judgment on his bail appeal.
Chin’ono approached the High Court after he was denied bail by Harare Magistrate, Lazini Ncube who ruled that he was likely to re-offend if granted bail.
In his application, Chin’ono who was represented by Harrison Nkomo, Jeremiah Bamu and Paidamoyo Saurombe of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) told the court that the police misdirected itself when it said there was overwhelming evidence against him as the investigating officer did not avail such during proceedings at Harare Magistrates Court.
He added that the issue of overwhelming evidence is not provided for by the law as a compelling reason to deny one bail.
“The court misdirected itself when it denied him bail on that ground. There was no factual finding on that ground.
“For that ground to be relevant there should be overwhelming evidence of an existing charge. Court should consider whether the charge he is facing exists. In this case it is non-existent, the Constitutional Court made a ruling in the case of Chimakure and others versus the Attorney General which struck off his charge from the Statutes,” said Nkomo.
“If a Statutory provision is declared unconstitutional and struck off by the apex court, it is dead and should never see the light of day,” he added.
Nkomo also told Justice Foroma that the Magistrate Court also erred in ruling that Chin’ono had a propensity to commit further offences yet the charges laid against him were non-existent.
“The court made its decision without evidence that he had propensity to commit further offences. The State failed to meet the high standards set by the Constitution to rely on as compelling reasons to deny an accused person bail,” Nkomo submitted.
In its response, the state argued that Chin’ono’s alleged offence was committed while he was on bail over two other pending charges to do with communication through social media.
“The present charge has an element of the public losing confidence in the ZRP because there is overwhelming evidence, accused may abscond and there is no need for him to use a passport because the borders are porous.
