DJ Fantan’s judgement reserved

High Court judge Justice Davison Foroma yesterday reserved judgement in the application for bail pending appeal made by organisers of the infamous Mbare New Year’s Eve gig, promoter Dammar, DJ Fantan and DJ Levelz.

The trio, through their lawyers Messrs Tafadzwa Hungwe and Dumisani Mthombeni, had approached the High Court seeking bail pending appeal against their sentence.

Dammah, DJ Fantan and DJ Levelz were jailed for an effective six months for violating Covid-19 regulations, by Harare provincial magistrate Mrs Vongai Guwuriro a fortnight ago.

Mrs Guwuriro had initially jailed the trio for 12 months before setting aside six months for three years on condition they do not commit a similar offence within that period.

Dammah, born Simbarashe Chanachimwe, Arnold Kamudyariwa (DJ Fantan), and Tafadzwa Kadzimwe (DJ Levelz), had pleaded guilty. In mitigation, the three apologised and begged for leniency.

They told the court that they had resolved to complement Government efforts to fight Covid-19 by engaging the Ministry of Health and Child Care for possible ambassadorial roles. Through their lawyers, Dammah, DJ Fantan and DJ Levelz, begged the court to spare them custodial sentences and impose fines against them.

They told the court that the music show was planned for live streaming on various online social media sites, but got out of hand as residents thronged the venue where they were filming the event.

The State, led by Messrs Michael Reza and Taddy Kamuriwo, called for stiffer penalties against the trio to send a clear message to would-be offenders that no one would be allowed to dice with peoples’ lives.

They said the trio was not worried about the curfew imposed by the Government and invited people to attend their gig which started at 6 pm and was slated to end at 6 am the following day.

According to the State, Dammar, DJ Fantan and DJ Levelz had invited 22 artistes to perform at the event dubbed Super Covid Spreader held at Dammah’s shop.

Mr. Reza said it was not possible to ask the court to treat them with kid gloves after they had deliberately invited people to gather where coronavirus could be spread.

He implored the court to invoke the principle of fire where he said he who touches it would be burnt indiscriminately. The Herald