Story by ZBC staff reporter
A BULAWAYO-based magistrate, Evia Matura (47), has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for criminal abuse of office after unlawfully remanding an accused person involved in a high-profile fraud case out of custody despite being fully aware that no application for bail had been made.
Matura, who now moves from administering justice to serving time behind bars, will serve an effective 18 months after six months were suspended on condition that she does not commit a similar offence within the next five years.
The court heard that on 2 July last year at Tredgold Magistrates Court in Bulawayo, Matura, acting in her capacity as a presiding magistrate, remanded former legislator Obert Manduna, who was facing fraud allegations, out of custody despite having previously denied him bail on 25 June.
The State further proved that no new bail application had been submitted, nor were there any changed circumstances, a High Court order, or a bail receipt requirements necessary for granting bail under such conditions.
