HARARE
—
The
High
Court
has
temporarily
halted
the
rape
trial
of
Walter
Magaya,
founder
of
Prophetic,
Healing
and
Deliverance
(PHD)
Ministries,
pending
the
determination
of
a
legal
challenge
to
a
magistrate’s
decision
to
conduct
the
proceedings
in
a
Victim
Friendly
Court.
Justice
Tawanda
Chitapi,
sitting
in
the
High
Court
at
Harare,
issued
the
stay
by
consent
on
Friday
following
an
urgent
chamber
application
filed
by
Magaya’s
legal
team.
The
criminal
proceedings
before
Regional
Magistrate
Estere
Chivasa
are
now
suspended
pending
the
outcome
of
a
review
application
Magaya
filed
before
the
High
Court
on
February
27.
Magaya,
42,
faces
three
counts
of
rape.
The
alleged
victims
aged
24,
22,
and
21
are
all
former
congregants
or
associates
of
his
church.
He
denies
all
charges.
The
legal
battle
began
on
February
16,
the
first
day
set
down
for
trial,
when
the
prosecution
applied
–
on
the
strength
of
oral
submissions
by
its
counsel
alone
–
for
the
matter
to
be
transferred
to
the
Victim
Friendly
Court
and
heard
in
camera.
The
state
argued
that
the
complainants,
as
church
members
who
faced
the
prospect
of
sitting
in
the
same
room
as
their
alleged
rapist,
were
vulnerable
witnesses
who
would
suffer
substantial
emotional
stress
in
an
open
court
setting.
Magaya
contested
the
National
Prosecuting
Authority’s
characterisation
of
the
complainants
as
vulnerable
witnesses,
pointing
out
that
they
are
adult
women
in
their
early
twenties
who
lodged
their
complaints
years
after
the
alleged
incidents
and
only
after
the
police
made
public
appeals.
He
maintains
that
the
entire
prosecution
is
the
product
of
a
coordinated
effort
to
solicit
complaints
against
him.
Magistrate
Chivasa
granted
the
application
without
interviewing
the
alleged
victims,
without
receiving
affidavit
or
psychological
evidence,
and
without
conducting
the
independent
inquiry
mandated
by
Section
319C(1)
of
the
Criminal
Procedure
and
Evidence
Act,
says
Magaya’s
defence.
In
her
ruling,
she
said
the
witnesses
“clearly”
appeared
to
be
vulnerable
based
on
what
she
had
“heard
from
the
state
counsel
and
from
the
state
outline
that
has
been
filed
in
the
record,”
adding
that
she
believed
the
prosecution’s
account
that
the
witnesses
had
been
interviewed.
Magaya’s
defence
team,
led
by
Admire
Rubaya,
attacked
that
ruling
as
a
gross
irregularity.
In
his
founding
affidavit,
Magaya
characterised
the
magistrate’s
decision
as
“not
adjudication
–
that
is
abdication,”
arguing
that
the
magistrate
had
“swallowed
the
state
counsel’s
say-so
hook,
line,
and
sinker”
and
had,
in
the
process,
surrendered
her
independence
and
compromised
his
constitutional
right
to
a
fair
trial.
The
defence
further
argued
that
relocating
the
proceedings
to
the
Victim
Friendly
Court
where
witnesses
testify
through
intermediaries
would
severely
curtail
its
ability
to
cross-examine
witnesses
directly
and
assess
their
credibility,
and
that
the
right
to
a
public
trial
under
section
69(1)
of
the
constitution
is
a
non-derogable
right
that
admits
no
limitation.
With
the
trial
having
been
set
to
resume
on
March
12,
and
the
prosecution
having
declined
to
voluntarily
postpone
it
pending
the
review,
Magaya’s
lawyers
filed
the
urgent
chamber
application
for
a
stay
of
proceedings.
Justice
Chitapi
granted
the
order
by
consent,
with
the
National
Prosecuting
Authority
not
opposing.
The
court
has
now
case-managed
the
underlying
review
application
on
a
firm
timetable.
The
respondents
–
magistrate
Chivasa
and
the
Prosecutor
General
–
are
required
to
file
their
responses
March
13.
Magaya
has
until
March
20
to
file
an
answering
affidavit,
and
until
March
27
to
file
heads
of
argument.
The
respondents
must
file
their
heads
of
argument
by
April
7,
Magaya
must
consolidate
the
full
record
by
April
10,
and
the
matter
is
set
down
before
Justice
Chitapi
for
hearing
on
May
14.
The
relief
Magaya
seeks
in
the
review
is
threefold:
that
the
magistrate’s
ruling
directing
a
Victim
Friendly
Court
trial
be
set
aside;
that
the
matter
be
remitted
for
trial
in
an
open
court
before
a
different
regional
magistrate;
and,
ultimately,
a
final
order
confirming
the
stay
of
proceedings
pending
finalisation
of
the
review.
Magaya
was
first
arraigned
before
the
Harare
Magistrates’
Court
on
January
26
this
year
on
four
counts
of
rape
after
police
made
a
call
for
potential
victims
to
come
forward
in
November
2025.
Three
of
those
counts
are
now
before
the
regional
court.
The
charge
sheet
refers
to
incidents
allegedly
occurring
in
July
2020
and
in
2023
at
rooms
in
Magaya’s
Yadah
Hotel
in
Waterfalls,
Harare.
The
matter
returns
to
the
High
Court
on
May
14.