Iam following with keen interest as the case of The Sunday Mail Zimbabwe Editor unfolds. From his initial arrest and the speculation from all quarters on the social media, This is my take on the case thus far. Yes under the principle of the Presumption of innocence, Edmund Kudzayi is innocent until proven guilty. However thus far, the state outline seems to suggest that he may have to be put to his defence on the charges put against him, mainly those of insurgency, terrorism, conspiring to undermine or overthrow a lawful government et al. On the evidence the state led during his remand hearing it seems to be relying heavily on the fact that the two emails, that of Amai Jukwa the character which Mduduzi Mathuthu in his earlier postings has suggested could be Edmund Kudzayi himself, and the email of Baba Jukwa are linked through the econet line used by Edmund kudzayi. The e-mails were set up to recover each other. The fact the Baba Jukwa still posts after the arrest of Edmund Kudzayi is primae facie evidence that Edmunds Kudzayis brother still at large may be the real Baba Jukwa..or may know who Baba Jukwa is. However all this thus far is highly speculative and considering the seriousness of the offence Edmund Kudzayi is being charged with the burden on the state is very high. It is not enough for the state to merely allege and not prove. And I think the case against Edmund Kudzayi is not sufficiently strong to secure a conviction until his brother is arrested. My reasons are as follows. 1. The line he used belongs to his brother. To allege he is Baba Jukwa based on that alone in largely circumstantial. And to his credit he has been working with the government from the time of the election campaign as Amai Jukwa and various other roles contributing immensely to the election victory of ZANU PF. To allege that he was writing as Baba Jukwa at the same time comes across as being ludicrous. However this does not absolve him from the allegations that he was possibly passing on sensitive information to the real Baba Jukwa of which the state seems to suggest maybe his brother. The burden to prove this lies squarely on the State and this may prove difficult. The fact that the Econet line he was using up until his arrest is linked to the Baba Jukwa Facebook account ...was enough to raise to raise reasonable suspicion for the police to arrest but it is not enough for the state to rely on to conduct a trial and secure a conviction. The state has to find Edmund Kudzayis brother to make any meaningful headway. In the interim, since this is a third schedule offence of which the Magistrates courts jurisdiction is limited, it would be prudent in the interest of justice to release on bail the young man with the usually security conditions for him to defend his case more
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 05:53:29 +0000
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