HARARE – High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu will next week rule on whether emails allegedly printed from key state witness Michael Peter Hitschmann’s laptop in 2006 should be used as evidence in the ongoing treason trial of MDC treasurer general Roy Bennett.

Bhunu on Wednesday deferred judgment to next Wednesday after the defence led by Beatrice Mtetwa objected to the production of the emails in court.

The state brought in Precious Nyasha Matare, a typist from the President’s Office in Mutare to testify that she printed the emails that allegedly implicate Bennett to the terrorism charges.

She told the court that she was called in to print the emails from Hitschmann’s laptop in senior assistant commissioner Ronald Muderedzwa’s office, adding that she had found the laptop switched on and printed the emails following instructions given by the arms dealer “voluntarily”.

Attorney General Johannes Tomana, who is leading the prosecution then sought to produce the emails in court as evidence, a move that was vehemently challenged by Mtetwa.

“Hitschmann has made it very clear that such emails were shown to him but their origins were not known. My Lord, there can be no question that printing of emails cannot be regarded as oral evidence as my learned friend has sought to do,” said Mtetwa, adding that Matare was not an information technology expert and could not know the origins of the emails.

“Clearly a mere typist who prints emails can’t be the proper person to produce the emails (for court purposes). She found the laptop on. Honestly, if it was Hitschmann directing her (to print) because Hitschmann could not print emails from his own laptop, that would be laughable if this case was not serious,” added Mtetwa. “Emails can be accessed from anywhere in the world and can be created anywhere and by anyone,” argued Mtetwa.

But Tomana was adamant that the emails should be used as evidence in court arguing that Hitschmann – declared a hostile witness by the court – had admitted that the laptop that is being used as an exhibit belonged to him.

“The admissibility of these emails is clearly covered by Section 281 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. The emails should be accepted as exhibit number 13. The state seeks to rely on those emails to prove that an offence was committed by the accused,” said Tomana.

“The emails stand alone and they are not confessions or statements made by this witness.”

Hitschmann has said he does not know the addresses of the recipients or sender of the emails in question and diary entries by the police neither mention that a laptop was retrieved from Hitschmann’s residence nor do they indicate the day when the emails were printed.

The state has sought to rely on the emails after Justice Bhunu barred the use of statements – hand written and video clips – that the state alleged showed Hitschmann implicating Bennett.

Prosecutors allege Hitschmann was paid by Bennett to buy weapons to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. They say Hitschmann implicated Bennett in 2006 when he was arrested after being found in possession of firearms, claims the gun dealer and former policeman denies saying he was tortured into making the confessions during interrogation at a military barracks in March that year.

Bennett, who faces a possible death sentence if convicted in a case that has heightened tensions in Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government – formed last February by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe after a violent election in 2008 – has pleaded not guilty to the treason charges levelled against him.

The MDC says the case against Bennett, Tsvangirai’s nominee for deputy agriculture minister, is politically motivated and aimed at keeping him out of government. – ZimOnline