HARARE – A State witness in the ongoing terrorism trial of MDC treasurer general Roy Bennett left the court in stitches Tuesday when he vehemently begged the court to proceed with cross-examining him saying he wanted to travel to work in Mozambique the same night.

“My Lord, I request that I be excused up to April as I am doing some work in Mozambique,” said Perekai Mutsetse, an IT expert who said he works for AfriCom.

Mutsetse was hired by the State to look into the authenticity of emails allegedly exchanged between key state witness Peter Michael Hitschmann and Bennett.

Presiding judge Chinembiri Bhunu summarily dismissed his request saying court matters took precedence over any other issues.

“You are a citizen of this country and you are bound by its laws. If you have any problems with your superiors, the Attorney General can write you a letter confirming that you were in court.”

But Mutsetse would not relent. He insisted trial should proceed well after business hours so that he could travel.

“If that is the case, I would rather My Lord, you finish with me today so that I can be able to travel to Mutare during the night.

“I would be so stressed if you ignore my plea. You would agree My Lord that you would equally be stressed if you were in my position,” he said.

But Bhunu responded, “I have made a ruling in this matter.”

He adjourned the hearing. As the gallery filed out of court amid  laughter,  Mutsetse was almost in tears.

In his evidence, Mutsetse told the court it was not possible for authentic emails to be created under someone else’s name.

Mutsetse astounded the court when he even said a fake email that was created by the lead defence counsel, Beatrice Mtetwa under police senior assistant commissioner Ronald Muderedzwa’s name purportedly communicating with Mtetwa was genuine.

The email was created in court before Mutsetse was called in to testify.

Mtetwa brought a laptop and a printer to court where she downloaded the email.

The defence is adamant emails allegedly exchanged between Bennett and Hitschmann were created by the CIO out to strengthen the state’s case against Bennett.

Bennett is being tried for allegedly trying to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s old administration through acts of sabotage and banditry.

The state says he was being assisted by Hitschmann, a charge he denies totally.

The trial continues Wednesday during which the defence will cross examine Mutsetse.

Meanwhile, Justice Bhunu has barred the defence from using Attorney General Johannes Tomana’s name in fake emails that were created to demonstrate it was possible for emails to be created under another person’s name.

Bennett’s trial adjourned acrimoniously three weeks ago when Tomana furiously objected to the use of his name in a fake email which the defence counsel sought to use while cross examining one Precious Matare.

Matare is a CIO operative who was hired by the police during police investigations to help download emails from Hitschmann’s laptop.

He accused the defence of trying to demean and caricature him and his office.

Bhunu was forced to adjourn court proceedings to go and prepare a ruling on the objection.

“The email which the defence seeks to rely upon is different from that relied upon by the state,” said Bhunu in his ruling.

“The state’s email is a questioned document,” Bhunu said.

“Its authenticity is in issue. There is therefore need to prove its authenticity or otherwise.

“On the other hand, the defence’s email is not a questioned document. It is a known fake document.

“The state’s email does not seek to embroil or incorporate the name of the defence counsel as part of the state’s evidence against the accused.”

Bhunu said the trial was not a “game of hide and seek where one party should take advantage of the other by deliberately concealing facts or evidence”.

He described it as an abuse of the court process for the defence to deliberately cite the Attorney General in a fake document which had no bearing on him or his office while at the same time denying him sight of the document before it was used against the state’s case.

“I accordingly hold that it is inadmissible to question the witness Ms Matare on the basis of a fake email presented to her,”he said.

In Tuesday’s trial, the court heard how the then officer commanding Manicaland Province, Muderedzwa downloaded emails from Hitschmann with the latter’s full cooperation.

By The Zimbabwe Times