By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Bellarmine Mugabe and his co-accused, Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze, were remanded in custody on Wednesday after abandoning their bail applications at the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court.
The matter was postponed to March 17 and moved to trial court for plea negotiations.
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The pair was charged after a gardener was shot and wounded at Mugabe’s Hyde Park residence last month.
Defence attorney Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said that while the prosecution had brought his clients’ alleged illegality in the country to his attention, he understood there were processes affecting the bail application and that they wanted “to deal with the matter in its merits”.
“I think everyone that was present at court saw that we postponed the matter for possible plea negotiations with the state and to try and handle this matter with the seriousness it deserves,” Mnguni said.
He said the possibility of pleading guilty to the charges was significant, but that the defence would await further instructions from the state, with a trial still a possibility.
“It’s still really early,” he said.
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“But, of course, in every case, people do approach the state to see if a potential plea bargain or something similar can be reached. I think it is part of the Criminal Procedure Act.”
Mugabe, 29, the son of Zimbabwe’s deceased former president Robert Mugabe, and Matonhodze, 33, face charges including attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, contravention of the Immigration Act, and additional counts of pointing a firearm linked to a separate incident, according to the state.
