COURT ADJOURNED, NO MAGISTRATE.
The Central Magistrate’s Court adjourned its listed criminal cases today because there was no Principal Magistrate.
16 criminal cases were listed to go before Principal Magistrate Rodgers Tovosia this morning, but he was absent, attending a death in his family.
Lawyers, defendants and relatives waited for almost three hours at the Magistrates court this morning.
Another Magistrate was later called in to hear the listed cases and she adjourned all of the cases for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, an expatriate defendant seeking a variation for his bail, expressed his disappointment in the adjournment, saying it has cost him alot of money and time with his family overseas.
He says he wants to go home overseas to see his wife and three kids this Christmas, but the Principal Magistrate’s absence means he will not catch his scheduled flight tomorrow.
He says his case has been adjourned a number of times already and this has cost him a lot of money because a private lawyer is representing him.
SIBC News understands the shortage of Magistrates has been an ongoing problem at the Magistrate’s Court.