Woman strips in protest at magistrate’s ruling

By Munyaradzi Musiiwa

Gweru regional magistrate Mr Morgan Nemadire got the shock of his life when a woman in the dock stripped to her underwear after he ruled that she be held in custody for lying under oath.

Merlin Mukwendi of Mkoba high-density suburb had confessed to the court that the rape allegation she had made against her husband Shepherd Mbwazvu was a fabrication.

It was for this deliberate misleading of the court through a false report that the magistrate found her in contempt of court leading to Mukwendi’s dramatic response.

After stripping off her outer garments she jumped to the magistrate’s bench and grabbed his microphone then tied the cord around her neck threatening to commit suicide in protest against the ruling.

She was restrained by the police and was taken into custody. Mukwendi is expected to appear in court today. Mukwendi had alleged that Mbwazvu had raped her.

However, Mukwendi failed to provide substantiated evidence to the alleged rape prompting her to confess that she had made false allegations against her husband after she caught him red-handed with another woman.

She was subsequently charged with lying under oath and misleading a public authority and remanded in custody to today.

Mr Batanai Matosi prosecuted. The Herald