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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Murder |
Sentence: |
20 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
10 |
Year Crime: |
2011 |
Year Convicted: |
2012 |
Year Cleared: |
2021 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Zimbabwe |
County or Region of Crime: |
Harare |
City of Crime: |
Harare |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Last Maengahama, Yvonne Musarurwa and Tungamirai Madzokere were codefendants wrongly convicted in 2016 of the May 29, 2011 murder of Police Inspector Petros Mutedzi after he was attacked by a mob in Harare, Zimbabwe. The prosecution didn't present any direct evidence the three were involved in the attack or the throwing of the brick that killed Mutedzi, and contradictory testimony they were at the crime scene. Defense lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa represented the three during their trial, and she argued that none of the three were at the scene of the murder, including the showing of video evidence that Maengahama was in fact in church. After their convictions following a bench (judge only) trial, they were each sentenced to 20 years in prison. Musarurwa was was released on a presidential amnesty in 2018 after seven years in custody. On June 3, 2021 a three-judge panel of the Zimbabwe Supreme Court acquitted all three defendants and ordered the immediate release of Maengahama and Madzokere after ten years in custody. The Court's ruling said the trial judge misapplied the appropriate law dealing with “common purpose” offences. Not only was the murder case unproven, the trio also could also not be convicted of the offence of public violence, an alternative charge. The Court's ruling also said the witness evidence “did not tell a seamless story”, was “remarkably disjointed” and “contradictory in some respects." The Court also ruled the evidence of a police officer who placed the three defendants at the crime scene was “unsafe to rely on.” The unanimous opinion written by Justice Makarau stated: "In the result, I find that there was no reliable evidence at the close of the State case upon which a court acting carefully would convict the appellants of public violence." " |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 3, 2021 a three-judge panel of the Zimbabwe Supreme Court acquitted all three defendants and ordered the immediate release of Maengahama and Madzokere after ten years in custody. The Court's ruling said the trial judge misapplied the appropriate law dealing with “common purpose” offences. Not only was the murder case unproven, the trio also could also not be convicted of the offence of public violence, an alternative charge. The Court's ruling also said the witness evidence “did not tell a seamless story”, was “remarkably disjointed” and “contradictory in some respects." The Court also ruled the evidence of a police officer who placed the three defendants at the crime scene was “unsafe to rely on.” The unanimous opinion written by Justice Makarau stated: "In the result, I find that there was no reliable evidence at the close of the State case upon which a court acting carefully would convict the appellants of public violence."" |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Sex: |
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Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"Supreme Court quashes murder convictions of Maengahama, Musarurwa and Madzokere, By Staff Reporter, ZimLive.com, June 4, 2021" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.zimlive.com/2021/06/04/supreme-court-quashes-murder-convictions-of-maengahama-musarurwa-and-madzokere/ |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org