The Sunday News
Thulani Ndlovu Sunday News Reporter
A HIGH Court judge has struck off the roll a condonation application for review brought by a jailed Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) pastor whose rape accuser, his former maid, has since confessed to having lied in order to fix him.
A condonation is an application asking the court to condone a late court review application.
Edias Ncube of Msilahobe under Chief Sogwala in Lower Gweru was convicted on four counts of rape in 2012 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He has served nearly two years of the total sentence. When the condonation is granted, the pastor hopes his conviction will be set aside in light of new evidence.
Ms Nhlambuluko Moyo (23) from Tsholotsho last month deposed an affidavit confessing that she laid false charges to “fix” the pastor for withholding her wages.
Bulawayo High Court Judge, Justice Lawrence Kamocha directed Edias Ncube’s legal representative, Mr Dumisani Dube of Cheda and Partners to file a supplementary affidavit informing the court why the matter did not go for a mandatory court review after Ncube’s conviction.
“I do not have a record or proof of whether this matter went for a review in light of the sentence handed. You need to go back to the magistrate court, get that record and produce it before me,” directed Justice Kamocha.
“A typed record of proceedings should also be placed before me so as to acquaint this court as to how the proceedings unfolded. At the moment I will strike the matter off the roll.”
According to the rules of the High Court, when an accused is unrepresented his or her matter goes for an automatic review before a judge of the High Court to determine whether the proceedings in the court aquo were fair.
According to Mr Dube, when the pastor was incarcerated he was not his lawyer.
“Unfortunately the attorney of record who represented Ncube has since died, meaning we have to gather all documents afresh. We will address judge’s concerns to the satisfaction of the court,” Mr Dube said.
When asked about when Ncube was likely to be released Mr Dube declined to commit to a time frame, saying the court processes had to be exhausted first.
“Justice between man and man demands that Ncube should be set free. But the matter we are dealing with is an unprecedented one; we have to follow court rules and we remain optimistic that the court will reach a just decision at the end of it all,” he said.
“As a last resort, we will make a constitutional challenge on the grounds that provisions of the constitution allow a detained person, including a sentenced prisoner to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.”
