HARARE – The High Court on Tuesday reserved its ruling on a bail appeal by jailed former senator Jameson Timba and 76 Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) supporters arrested on June 16 while holding a private meeting.

Justice Munamato Mutevedzi of the Harare High Court said the judgement would be ready by Thursday after hearing arguments by defence lawyers and state prosecutors.

The judge ordered the release of a 17-year-old minor after lawyers submitted his birth certificate to confirm his age.

Lawyers for the CCC activists said magistrate Ruth Moyo erred in treating all the suspects as one person when they had different circumstances. She only admitted Timba’s 18-year-old son to bail after learning that he had visited his father’s Avondale residence – where the activists were rounded up – to deliver a Father’s Day present. They were charged with holding an illegal gathering.

The lead lawyer Jeremiah Bamu said the magistrate should not have placed the appellants in one bracket considering that they were arrested separately.

“Accused 1 (Timbawe) is liable for the offence only because people had gathered at his house. That did not make him part of the gathering and the court aquo should have distinguished his circumstances from those of the other accused,” Bamu argued.

“It is clear that the appellants weren’t arrested at the same place but two different places and the evidence of the investigating officer was that the police did not ascertain the purpose of the gathering. There is no strong case in particular to the charge they are facing,” he said.

The court was also told that one of the suspects is a tenant at Timba’s house and was not part of the gathering.

“The individual role of each appellant ought to have been ascertained. What happened was a dragnet arrest,” Bamhu argued.

Webster Jiti, another member of the defence team, said their clients have not shown any capacity to interfere or abscond. Jiti said there was also no evidence that the activists were violent during their arrest.

“Evidence before the court is rather contrary. The appellants were brutalised to an extent that some were hospitalised,” Jiti said.

Charles Muchemwa from the National Prosecuting Authority said there was no misdirection by the lower court as argued by defence lawyers.

“The evidence before the court shows that this offence was committed in aggravating circumstances and there is a likelihood of a conviction. This might induce the appellants to abscond. It is therefore my humble submission that the appeal be dismissed,” he said before the judge adjourned the hearing.

Judgement will be handed down virtually.

Defence lawyers say the CCC activists had gathered at Timba’s Avondale residence to commemorate International Youth Day, held annually on June 16 to mark the Soweto Uprising.

Police descended on the property and loaded the activists into trucks before charges of holding an unsanctioned gathering followed. Many say they were beaten in custody.