Marry Mubaiwa is seeking a permanent stay of prosecution in her attempted murder case. Mubaiwa is facing charges of attempting to kill Vice President Chiwenga by unplugging his life support system while he was admitted in a South African hospital.
Her lawyer, Mrs Beatrice Mtetwa, filed the application.
A permanent stay of prosecution is a court order that prevents a trial from continuing. It is a drastic remedy that is only granted in certain circumstances, based on a case-by-case analysis.
“The applicant hereby applies for a permanent stay of her prosecution in Case No. ACC 95/19,” reads the application.
Mrs Mtetwa said there has been an inordinate and unreasonable delay in the completion of the criminal proceedings.
“The applicant’s health has materially deteriorated to an extent that it would not be in the interests of justice to persist with the criminal prosecution,” read the application.
The State sought a postponement of the matter for it to go through the application for permanent prosecution filed by the defence.
The presiding magistrate, Mrs Feresi Chakanyuka deferred the matter to November 22 for ruling.
During previous sittings, former Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro who was a witness told the court that whenever Mubaiwa walked into the room in which Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was admitted, he would become unconscious even though he was awake before her arrival.
Dr Mangwiro said the complainant’s health would start deteriorating each time he was brought back to his house.
“Each time we took the complainant out of the country for medication, he would come back home well,” he said.
“However he would start deteriorating when he got back home. I don’t know what was happening.”
Dr Mangwiro said Mubaiwa would kick everyone out of the VP’s hospital room.
At one point, she refused to take the complainant to the hospital and opted to take him to a hotel.
“As the complainant was being taken to the hospital, the accused once opted for a hotel. I told her it was dangerous but she said the complainant wanted to rest,” said Dr Mangwiro.
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