THREE man who allegedly masqueraded as military intelligence and police details to extort mining firms in Matabeleland using the name of the first family have approached the High Court seeking bail.
Munyaradzi Charakupa, Tawanda Mangi and Victor Jaja approached the High Court after their bail application was dismissed by Bulawayo magistrate Evelyn Madzikatire on September 5.
They are represented by lawyer Bryan Sengweni.
They face charges of impersonating public officials, attempted extortion and extortion involving over US$55 000.
Prosecutors argued that the suspects were facing very serious charges, and were a flight risk.
They are set to return to court on October 23.
In their appeal, the suspects noted they were not a flight risk as argued by prosecutors.
“The court aquo erred in denying appellants bail when the state had failed to establish compelling reasons for their continued detention,” they argued in their High Court application.
The trio also said they were family men ‘with children who are waiting for their school fees to be paid yet they already spend more than 30 days in prison for allegations, which are yet to be tried.’