Zim GBC News | Crimes and Courts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HARARE \u2013 The High Court has granted bail to local businessman Tinaapi Nyawo, pending his appeal against a three-year fraud conviction, in a case that has taken a dramatic legal turn following the promotion of the presiding judicial officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nyawo was convicted of fraud involving a US$65,000 motor vehicle and sentenced to an effective three years in prison by former regional magistrate Clever Tsikwa. The sentence was delivered just two days after Tsikwa\u2019s elevation to a Judge of the Labour Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Represented by lawyer Admire Rubaya, Nyawo successfully argued that his appeal has strong prospects because the trial proceedings were rendered a nullity. The core of the application hinged on the claim that Tsikwa lost jurisdiction the moment his appointment as a judge was gazetted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJustice Tsikwa could not validly discharge the functions of a Magistrate relating to the Applicant\u2019s criminal matter. Thus, once a Magistrate resigns, even consequent to appointment to a higher office, he becomes functus officio, loses jurisdiction and the proceedings before him become a nullity,\u201d argued Rubaya in the application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rubaya further contended that the subsequent handling of the case by Magistrate Chakanyuka was also invalid. He asserted that Magistrate Chakanyuka presided over sentencing after bestowing a verdict prepared by the now-Judge Tsikwa, a process he described as “brazenly grossly irregular.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Court a quo per Chakanyuka F. Esq could not validly sentence the Applicant in circumstances where the proceedings leading to the conviction in the first place were null and void,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rubaya argued, maintaining that the trial should have started afresh before a new judicial officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Happias Zhou of the High Court granted Nyawo US$300 bail, ordering him to continue residing at his given address and to report to the police once a month pending the outcome of his appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow us on social media for more breaking news:
\u00b7X (Twitter): @ZimGbc
\u00b7Instagram: @ZimGBCNews
\u00b7TikTok: @ZimGBCNews_01
\u00b7Facebook: Zim GBC News
\u00b7YouTube: Zim GBC News<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get real-time alerts on WhatsApp:
+263 773 820 323<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For in-depth coverage, visit our website: www.zimgbcnews.co.zw<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zim GBC News | Global News From An African Perspective\u00a92025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zim GBC News | Crimes and Courts HARARE \u2013 The High Court has granted bail to local businessman Tinaapi Nyawo, pending his appeal against a three-year fraud conviction, in a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10070"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10071,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10070\/revisions\/10071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}