Opposition member Tendai Biti, who is accused of verbally assaulting local businesswoman Tatiana Aleshina, has denied allegations that he charged towards her in an intimidatory manner.
Biti said this in his defence after several State witnesses claimed that, on the day of the alleged offence on December 30, 2020, he charged towards Aleshina prompting one of the witnesses to stand in between them to avoid physical contact.
The witnesses had told court that Biti was very angry while coming out of the courtroom in Harare, and he advanced towards Aleshina while shouting that she was “stupid”.
But Biti denied the allegations saying he could not have pointed a finger at Aleshina as he was carrying some books and a bag on both hands.
He added that he only got to know of the complainant on the date of the alleged verbal assault, saying their conversation lasted less than a minute.
Biti has been submitting his defence for almost three weeks and has previously told the court that his submissions might even take years.
Prosecutor Michael Reza has, in previous sittings, accused Biti of buying time by submitting irrelevant evidence to the court.
Magistrate Vongai Guwuriro postponed the matter to December 5 for trial continuation.
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