HIGH Court judge Davidson Foroma has denied bail to a soldier, Witness Tamisayi, arrested early this year for armed robbery.
Tamisayi was arrested after a fellow soldier and alleged accomplice, Zephania Munyuchi, implicated him and three others in the robbery of an 80-year-old woman at her Kadoma home.
According to court papers, Tamisayi and his alleged accomplices visited the woman while clad in army uniforms and produced a purported search warrant claiming they were looking for weapons of war.
The five reportedly disarmed the security guard at the house and used his firearm to threaten the woman and her family into submission before tying them and locking them up in a toilet.
The crew made away with expensive jewellery, cellphones, US$10 000 and R20 000.
In his application, Tamisayi denied the allegations, claiming Munyuchi implicated him in the robbery to get back at him as they did not see eye-to-eye.
In his judgment, Foroma said that Tamisayi’s arguments were weak and that he had failed to provide any evidence to prove his whereabouts at the time the crime was committed.
“When the matter was argued before me on June 9, 2021 no evidence was produced in support of the applicant’s alibi, thus, his case remained anchored on his bail application statement.
“The applicant’s application was therefore not strengthened by the promised evidence of an alibi but considerably weakened by the undisputed or unexplained admission as claimed by the investigating officer,” Foroma ruled.
Foroma further said that there was a high probability that Tamisayi would abscond as the charges against him had serious consequences.
“Applicant risks a conviction followed by a substantial sentence of imprisonment which provides an incentive to abscond.
“In the circumstances, the court finds the applicant to be a flight risk.
“Therefore, the applicant is not a proper candidate for bail and his application is accordingly dismissed,” he said.