THE lawyer representing two Harare-based businessmen company accused of mounting an illegal billboard in Borrowdale, whose contents allegedly denigrated a local property developing Company, has requested for a transcript with the ruling of their application for exception which was dismissed last week.
Mark Strathen of Paragon Printers and Grant Russell of Fairclot Investments , who are represented by Gwinyai Mharapara and Tafara Danana, are facing criminal nuisance charges. Mharapara told court that he checked for the transcript in the morning but was advised that it was not yet ready.
The matter was then postponed to October 8 for continuation. In dismissing the application for exception, magistrate Sharon Rakafa dismissed the application saying issues they raised on their application for exception are triable issues. The matter has been the on roll since 2021 owing to several postponements.
It is the State’s case that on December 10, 2020 at around 2pm on the opposite side of Celebration Church in Borrowdale, Harare,the accused persons erected a billboard with damaging information on WestProperties in a bid to tarnish the latter’s image. The State alleges that the billboard erected by the two had contents which were likely to interfere with the ordinary comfort or convinience of the complainant’s clients. The complainant made a report to the police, leading to the duo’s arrest.
