THE defence hearing for jailed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) vice national chairman, Job Sikhala commenced Tuesday with the MP taking to the witness stand.
Sikhala is accused of disturbing police investigations by alleging that CCC activist Moreblessing Ali was murdered by a Zanu PF member before calling for justice over her brutal killing.
Defending himself before Harare magistrate Marewanazvo Gofa, Sikhala said it would shock the world if the magistrate accepts fake evidence against him from prosecution.
Sikhala insists information before the court was distorted and further argued that the State had failed to provide any evidence to prove that he had made utterances that interfered with police investigations.
He said on the day he allegedly addressed mourners, he was in his home area and unaware that Ali was missing.
“The 25th of May 2022 I was in my village in my rural home in Gutu. If I remember carefully May 25 was Africa day. I went to my rural home on the eve of the 24th and was looking after my herd of cattle and travelled to Harare on May 26.
“It was only Superintendent Elliot Muchado who indicated that that is the date that I addressed some people in Nyatsime who had gathered for Moreblessing Ali. By that time I didn’t even know about the disappearance of Ali.
“She was only known to have been murdered when her body was discovered dumped in a well in June 2022.
Sikhala said that alone showed that the State fabricated a case against him.
“It has never happened anywhere that a person visits YouTube and extracts a video and decides to charge you. It would be the first if the court accepts the lies that the State has told them.”
“I never uttered those words. The State has failed to prove that I uttered those words. Muchado indicated that the Investigating Officer of that case was Hardwick Mazviti. Mazviti told the court that he was not the IO and that it was one Inspector Murimbo who was not brought to this court to prove that he was obstructed by the video on YouTube. The evidence of Mazviti that the video was uploaded on June 15 2022 defeats the State’s lies that I am the one who recorded the video that obstructed the police.
“If it was posted on June 15, I was already in custody. How would I become a ghost who would be able to post the video on YouTube. The State has been lying against my person and my name has been vilified and smeared because of the video that I allegedly posted. This trial is based on lies that has been peddled by the State,” he added.
Sikhala was representing Ali’s family after she went missing in Nyatsime in May last year.
Her body was later found dismembered and dumped in a well in Beatrice.
Sikhala was arrested days later following the funeral wake of Ali and charged with inciting public violence and locked up.
While imprisoned, he was hit with the another charge of disturbing police investigations.
All his efforts to secure bail hit a brick-wall.
Last week, the court ruled he had a case to answer after the State closed its case against him.
Defence hearing continues Wednesday. – Newzim
