The court case against MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett hit yet another snag on Monday, when Judge Chinembiri Bhunu refused to recuse himself from the case. Bennett’s legal team last week requested that Justice Bhunu hand the trial over to another judge, saying his handling of the related Peter Hitschmann trial in 2006 showed he might be ‘prejudicial’ to Bennett. But Bhunu refused to hand the case over when proceedings got underway on Monday, saying the cases of Hitschmann and Bennett were separate.
State prosecutors have indicated that Hitschmann, who was jailed for two years for possessing dangerous weapons but was acquitted on the more serious terrorism charge that Bennett is facing, will give evidence that will implicate Bennett. But Bennett’s defence has said that Hitschmann’s testimony will contradict a sworn affidavit and statements he made to the High Court in 2006. Hitschmann himself has also made clear that he is not prepared to be a state witness.
Monday’s court proceedings saw Bennett plead not guilty to the charges laid against him, and also saw the first state witness in the case take the stand. SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa reported that the witness, police superintendent James Makoni, kept alluding to statements made by Hitschmann during the arms dealer’s case in 2006. The defence argued that the evidence was ‘inadmissible’ because Hitschmann himself has not yet been called to testify. The trial will continue on Tuesday.
SW Radio Africa
If I was Bennett I would blame my collegues in the MDC for sacrifising me in this way. I am sure Morgan is trying to play the Bennett issue in the public gallery which will only get the poor farmer in trouble. Is there no way these guys can open up negotiations with the Junta about Bennett, and for crying out loud drop this deputy minister nonsense. It will just make his trial drag on and on since Mugabe said he will swear him in after the trial. This just means the trial will go on till the GNU has expired meanwhile Roy suffers.MDC-T trying to play big on this Bennett issue will have one casualty,Roy Bennett and we all know it.
Nhai amaiMtetwa,what do u expect from the Zanoids courts?If by hook or crook it happens that Zim becomes really FREE,we will have to start afresh from an ordinary constable to the Supreme Court Judge(JUSTICE).We will have to train new PROFESSIONALS.
abel you are always offside, if you were a soccer player we would have offered you free transfer to the lowest league. Your party can try to cook charges against CDE Bennet our deputy minister of agriculture but we will stand by him all the way. He is another reason why sanctions still stand because of these cooked up charges. We love Bennet he is one of us, we are not racist and we will see to it that he wins this case and walk to parliament.
Some of us may be offside to show that we are jacked up unlike some of you who are always on the defense meaning the best you can get is a draw as you have in the GNU here.chuckle!!!!
Now from my comment does it sound like I am against Roy Bennet? I happen to know Roy personally unlike you who reads him in the papers.I think you rush to comment without reading what I would have said, in typical MDC style where they rush to sign documents without reading through them, no wonder Chinamasa pulled a fast one on you by making his own amendments. He knew you morons rush without reading.double chuckle!!!!!!
i always thought zanu and its supporters were some of the “worst” morons the world has have seen but i never though they would allow the world to know let alone witness it with its own eyes, thus i’m very surprised they still expect the world to treat them with dignity and respect (constantly crying out for sunctions to be lifted), these blood thirtsy fools are weeping and wailing to be heard when they cannot treat their own fellow countryman like a human just bcz of his colour of skin what kind of hyprocrisy/idiocy is that?
Anyone who claims to knw Bennett “personally” and still vomits that its MDC that are to blame for his unhumane treatment at the hands of matabili and co can only be described as a retarded imbecile thats needs a brain change ASAP
Abel is busy singing for the mad ZANOIDS to dance. Let Bennet be pessecuted. Thats the struggle. Mandela is not a hero because he killed people with AK47’s. He is a hero because he was perssecuted by a junta which was better than LOC. So Abel dont worry by being sympathetic to Bennet. We dont want your sympathy. Its the struggle. It exposes the JUNTA more than if Bennet had been treated well. In fact MDC-T could have lost a lot of support now if the Junta had cooperated in the GNU. What is happening is the best for MDC-T. Remember Tsvangiari became more popular when he was beaten by the police.