Ndlovu retrial ordered

Ndlovu retrial ordered

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By Lebo Nkatazo

A RETRIAL has been ordered for Zimbabwe's Information Minister Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu after a Bulawayo High Court judge ruled his 2005 conviction on a culpable homicide charge was unsafe.

Ndlovu was convicted on October 17, 2005, after Bulawayo magistrate Sibongile Msipa found him to have been negligent in mowing down and killing a pedestrian while speeding along a Bulawayo street.

The matter has been set down for a fresh hearing before another magistrate and an officer from the Attorney General's Office is now handling the case, New Zimbabwe.com confirmed Wednesday.

The AG's office has since written to Ndlovu's lawyer, Sindiso Mazibisa, of Cheda and Partners to arrange a date for the retrial.

Ndlovu sought that his conviction be quashed on the grounds of gross irregularity. He asked that the State be directed to set the matter down for a trial de novo before another magistrate.

He further sought the setting aside of Msipa's judgment, which he said left him facing a loss of his driver's licence and a possible jail term.

Ndlovu argued that the magistrate had not afforded him an opportunity to exercise his right to reply after the prosecution team rested.

Prosecutors said on October 5, 2003, at about 8pm, Ndlovu was driving a Honda Accord at high speed, going eastwards along Leopold Takawira Street in Bulawayo.

The victim, a pedestrian, was walking along the same street in the same direction. The dead man was walking on the edge of the road beyond the yellow carriageway markings, prosecutors said.

Ndlovu, who was driving along the outer left lane, allegedly veered off the road and knocked down the man from behind. The man fell to the tarmac and died on the spot.

Ndlovu, the prosecution team said, drove off but returned to the scene and later told police he suspected that he had hit something.

Prosecutors said Ndlovu was negligent because he was travelling at an excessive speed and failed to stop or act reasonably after the accident.
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