They also complained of an on-going onslaught by the state media, which has continuously accused them of being violent towards the defence lawyer.
Chinomona (19) was stabbed with her family’s kitchen knife in her mother’s Unit K home on April 24 last year, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, Pritchard Zimondi, who was 24 at the time, as she tried to end their stormy relationship. Zimondi is said to be a close relative of Zimbabwe Prisons Services boss, Paradzai Zimondi.
The case attracted a public outcry, inviting a simultaneous outpouring of wrath for the alleged killer and sympathy for the family on Facebook by thousands of vocal friends who want to see justice done.
A relative who refused to be named told The Zimbabwean early this week continued delays in bringing the case to court had seen confidence in the Zimbabwean justice system completely fade away.
The case has been postponed several times, for what the family sees as trivial reasons.
“Last week the defence lawyer applied for bail and the case was postponed to April 4, just because the lawyer did not pitch up and the judge said he should file his defence outline,” said a distraught family member.
“Obviously, they are trying to play some tricks. How can a lawyer apply for bail and then not file his defence outline? It has been a very rough road to justice for us.”
At one stage, the case was postponed (to February 4) because the judge (Justice Joseph Musakwa), who once gave the accused bail, was going to Kariba for a workshop.
“Imagine! On February 4, we went to court, with Justice (Felistus) Chatukuta in charge, but the accused came to court pretending to be sick and the judge said he should see the prison doctor to get a medical report that would tell if he was fit for trial, and postponed to February 7.
“On the next trial day, he brought a report to say his blood pressure was high and he was suffering from loss of memory. The case was postponed again to February 20.”
“When we returned, the judge said the accused did not have a letter certifying him fit for trial, so trial was postponed to May 20.”
Justice Musakwa was also accused of not having listened to presentations from the victim’s family when he granted the accused bail, whose conditions the accused breached by changing residence. “We continued to follow the case closely because there were so many loopholes. For example, the police did not ask the accused to surrender his particulars, but told us he did not have an ID card and passport. When we investigated, we got his ID number.”
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