Lawyers Doug Coltart, Tapiwa Muchineripi granted b...

Lawyers Doug Coltart, Tapiwa Muchineripi granted bail

Michael Mashiri

Lawyers, Douglas Coltart and Tapiwa Muchineripi have been arraigned to court on allegations of disturbing the police during their investigations.

They were ordered to pay US$100 bail each and will appear in court October 20.

Douglas James Coltart, 32, of Mabelreign and Tapiwa Muchineripi, 49, of Hatfield, appeared before magistrate Dennis Mangosi accused of obstructing the course of justice.

The State, through prosecutor Zebediah Bofu, alleges that on September 2, 2023, there was a matter of suspected kidnapping which was reported at ZRP Milton Park, by one Givemore Marovagondo, 37, who is a caretaker at St Joseph’s House in Belvedere.

He reported that he had seen about seven people in three cars a silver Honda Fit without registration number plates, a silver 4x4 Isuzu twin cab without registration number plates and a silver Toyota Fortuner with white number plates.

The three cars blocked a BMW and handcuffed two people who were in that car before destroying its windows.

Marovagondo alleged that he saw the handcuffed people being shoved into a Toyota Fortuner and the cars sped off at high speed, leaving the damaged BMW at the scene.

The police went there and took the damaged BMW to ZRP Milton Park where the matter was reported.

Since September 2, 2023, the news that Womberaishe Nhende and Sanele Mkhuhlani were kidnapped circulated on social media but Nhende and Mkhuhlani did not report the case to the police.

On September 3, 2023, the matter was referred to CID Law and Order Harare for further management.

The following day, police received information that the two were admitted at Parktown Hospital, Waterfalls, in Harare.

On the same day at about 2000 hours, police from CID Law and Order, Harare went to the hospital to make further investigations and assess the injuries sustained by the victims.

While the police were at the hospital reception area assisted by hospital staff, Coltart and Muchineripi allegedly went to them.

The police identified themselves to the two and told them of the purpose of their visit at the hospital.

Coltart and Muchineripi, the State alleges, knowing that police officers were investigating the commission of a crime, defeated or obstructed course of investigations as they denied the detectives access to the victims of the alleged kidnapping, arguing that the victims were their clients and had not made any report to the police hence there was no need for police intervention.

The detectives advised Coltart and Muchineripi that there was a report that had been made at ZRP Milton Park but they allegedly remained adamant that they did not want the police, especially from CID Law and Order, to interview their clients, alleging security reasons.

The State alleges that the two further denied the CID Law and Order Harare detectives access to the victims, saying they were most likely going to collude with their client’s assailants in harassing them as they did in previous cases.

The police told the two that their actions were obstructing the police in doing their job but they insisted with their refusal. As a result, the detectives abandoned the purpose of their visit to the hospital.

The State alleges that two had no right to deny the police access to the victims yet they were aware that they were police officers investigating a criminal case which had already been reported to the police.

Their lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the court that his clients had been unlawfully arrested and the police from nowhere started to claim that they were obstructing the course of justice.

“They were instructed independently to attend to the case of Womberaishe Nhende and Mkhuhlani who were admitted at Parktown Hospital as patients.

“The police attended at the hospital and they had cordial conversations.”