Judge blasts police for manhandling CIO informer

By Tendai Kamhungira

High Court judge Charles Hungwe has slammed the police for gruesomely manhandling a self-proclaimed Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) informer Delish Nguwaya, arrested at the Harare Magistrates’ Court on allegations of undermining the police.

Hungwe asked the prosecutor Kenias Chimiti to explain if the police actions were justified under the circumstances.

“How did the applicant get floored?” Hungwe asked after watching a video of the incident that took place in the full glare of members of the public.

Justice Hungwe further asked if the actions were justified, even if they were laying charges against him.

The video shows Nguwaya on the floor handcuffed, while being dragged by the police down the stairs from the second floor to the first floor. Nguwaya’s cries drew a large crowd from the court, which is also shown in the video.

In the application, filed by his lawyer Jonathan Samukange, Nguwaya cited Commissioner-General of police Augustine Chihuri, detective sergeant Chatukuta and top detective Joseph Nemaisa as respondents.

In his submissions, Samukange said that his client was brutally tortured by the police, who later took him to hospital “fearing he might die in their hands.”

In the application, Samukange was demanding Nguwaya’s immediate release and said that his client could have been subjected to overnight torture, before being taken to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for treatment.

“The hospitalisation could have been a realisation by the torturers that the applicant (Nguwaya) could die in their hands hence the call for MARS ambulance.

“There is need for a final order to be granted and that the second and third respondents (Chatukuta and Nemaisa) pay costs on an attorney-client scale. Costs are being sought against second and third respondents because the Zimbabwe Republic Police as a service cannot act contrary to the Constitution, cannot instruct the second and third respondents to act unlawfully.

“The decision to act unlawfully and torture the applicant is a personal decision and they should face the consequences,” Samukange said.

He said that the fact that the police officers took Nguwaya from court shows that they do not have respect for the courts.

“The conduct, if it’s allowed to continue, will result in chaos and total breakdown of the rule of law and the judicial system.

“The time has come for the court to indicate to these rogue police officers that they should be sent to prison so that they also feel the pain,” he said.

He further said that torture is an international offence, which can be reported anywhere else, even outside Zimbabwe.

However, Chimiti claimed that no assault was perpetrated against Nguwaya, adding that he was being lawfully arrested for undermining police authority, an aspect that Samukange objected to as a lie.

Chimiti further said that Nguwaya was resisting arrest by the police officers dispatched to arrest him from the Harare Central Police Station on the alleged charge.

“The arrest was lawful and was pursuant to a report that was made. The respondents in this matter did not assault the applicant as alleged,” Chimiti said.

“The arrest was illegal and the applicant must be released forthwith,” the judge ruled. Daily News