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The Herald
Court correspondent
POLITICAL activist Hopewell Chin’ono has no symptoms of Covid-19 and is not a risk to other inmates, the court heard yesterday.
Chin’ono, who faces charges of incitement to public violence, appeared in court for his routine pretrial detention.
This came after Chin’ono’s lawyer, Taona Nyamakura, told the court that prison officials had dragged his client to court.
Adv Nyamakura told the court that his client was examined by a medical professional who observed that he had symptoms of Covid-19.
“His doctor had told him that my client should not appear in court or be in contact with other inmates as he had symptoms of Covid-19,” he said.
Adv Nyamakura said that the prison authorities misled his client by telling him that his doctor wanted to examine him before taking him to court.
“My client is currently taking medication, which he cannot take here in court. His doctor was supposed to examine him this morning, but all of that couldn’t happen because my client was forcibly brought here, ”he said.
Before responding to Mr. Nyamakura’s submissions, the prosecutor Ms. Tendai Shonhai successfully petitioned the court for a short postponement saying that she wanted to contact the doctor at the Chikurubi maximum security prison for full information on the matter.
After the brief adjournment, Ms. Shonhai told the court that she had spoken with Dr. Blessing Dhorobha, who stated that the defendant complained of a headache on Monday and had a slightly elevated temperature.
“Dr. Dhorobha said that he tried to examine the defendant, but he refused saying that he wanted his personal doctor,” Ms Shonhai said.
She said that based on Dr. Dhoroba’s observation, the defendant did not display any Covid-19 symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath and was not a risk to other inmates.
“The defendant has not shown any symptoms of Covid-19 except a slightly elevated temperature and headache,” he said.
The Harare regional magistrate, Mr. Ngoni Nduna, said that the Chin’ono doctor should have submitted a report of his own findings so that the court had a clear idea of the matter.
She deferred the matter until September 15 after Ms. Shonhai assured the defense that she would provide them with a trial date.
Lawyer Nyamakura notified the State that he would submit a request to deny a new pre-trial detention if a trial date was not given on the next pre-trial date.
Meanwhile, the matter of MDC Alliance National Vice President Job Sikhala, who faces charges of inciting public violence prior to the July 31 protests, continued with his attorney, Ms. Beatrice Mtetwa, who took to the stand to testify.
In her testimony, Ms. Mtetwa tried to exonerate Sikhala after telling the court that she made all arrangements to accompany him to the police if they were really looking for him.
However, the State led by Mr. Garudzo Ziyadhuma objected to Ms. Mtetwa’s assertions saying that she never gave the letter to the police as it was not signed.
Another witness, Mr. Albert Masaka, editor of Zim Community News, was called to testify and also tried to exonerate Sikhala, but confirmed the interview with him.
The court heard that the controversial video and audio clips were recovered from the Zim Community news.
