THE High Court has stopped police from collecting blood samples from High Court judge Justice Garainesu Mawadze’s son, Munyaradzi Jnr, who is facing a murder charge.
Mawadze (24), who is being accused of murdering cellphone dealer Sipho Ncube, is jointly charged with Elvin Dongo Saungweme (24) and Dellon David Balani (24).
The trio were recently indicted for trial at the High Court for the murder committed in 2020.
Investigating officer Alexander Jachi was given a warrant authorising him to collect the blood samples by a Harare magistrate in June 2020.
But High Court judge Justice Siyabona Musithu said the warrant was wrongly issued.
The court upheld Mawadze’s argument that the section of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act used in issuing the warrant does not include production of bodily tissues without consent of the owner.
“On his part, the third respondent (the magistrate) just issued the warrant without paying much attention to the quoted sections of the law to determine if they really applied to the application before him,” Justice Musithu ruled.
“This kind of (inattention) to detail is so gross and cannot be countenanced by this court. In view of the foregoing observations, the only inescapable conclusion this court can reach is that the warrant was not issued in accordance with the law.
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“That makes it irregular and consequently invalid. There is no warrant that the applicant is expected to comply with. In light of these findings, it becomes unnecessary for this court to interrogate the other grounds for review which were premised on the supposition that the warrant of search and seizure was valid.”
Mawadze had submitted that his blood samples were of little relevance to the case since police had samples of the deceased’s blood which could be matched against the blood stains found on his clothes.
According to the State, the trio allegedly stabbed Ncube with a knife before slitting open his throat, killing him instantly.
This was after the suspects purportedly lured the now-deceased to his car pretending that they wanted to seal a cellphone deal, after which they allegedly murdered him and dumped his body in Ruwa
Ncube’s relatives became suspicious when he failed to return home and filed a police report on the same day.
To cover up for the murder, Mawadze allegedly sent a text message using Ncube’s cellphone claiming that he had been kidnapped.
Blood-soiled clothes were reportedly recovered from the suspects and Mawadze’s car seat.
