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Hopewell Chin’ono fears for his health following a Tuberculosis (TB) and bronchitis outbreak at Chikurubi Maximum Prison where he is currently detained after being denied bail by Harare Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa.
He is facing charges of defeating or obstructing the course of justice as defined in section 184 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act while on bail over another matter still pending at the courts.
Chin’ono’s lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told the media about the outbreak soon after the hearing of his bail appeal application before Justice Tawanda Chitapi at the High Court in Harare Wednesday.
Mtetwa said Chin’ono was a bit unwell with a cough and he feared it could be a TB or bronchitis infection that affected him from the cell he is living in.
“…there is an outbreak of bronchitis, TB and hepatitis B at prisons and so he has a cough and he has been taken back to a cell with 46 inmates. Naturally we are concerned about the bronchitis,” his lead counsel Beatrice Mtetwa said.
During the hearing Mtetwa submitted that magistrate Gofa misdirected herself in denying Chin’ono bail as she based her ruling on one ground that one pending matter before the courts amounted to propensity.
She said there is no evidence of propensity because the pending case is about incitement yet the current one is of defeating the course of justice.
“This is because propensity refers to a tendency to a particular way of behaving. Once the word propensity is used it cannot refer to one pending case, there has to be many,” said Mtetwa.
Mtetwa also submitted that her client was wrongly placed on remand as there is no evidence that he committed the offence he is being charged with as corroborated by the investigating officer who said the tweet Chin’ono posted did not amount to a criminal offence.
“The allegations on the form 242 make no mention of the tweet of the 26th of October. So there is no evidence at all. There are no allegations that the appellant has previous convictions. That makes him a right candidate for bail,” she said.
Mtetwa told the court that magistrate Gofa categorically stated that Chin’ono had committed the offence and the basis on which she made the findings was clearly wrong before she made that ruling.
“It was the magistrate who crafted compelling reasons by stating that the appellant has a likelihood to reoffend … That was a clear misdirection.
“We respectfully pray that you release the appellant basing on the current bail conditions. Should you find there should be more conditions, we are bound to abide by the same,” she submitted.
Justice Chitapi will hand down his ruling this Friday at 11.30am. Nhau/Indaba
