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[QUOTE="Queen, post: 87832, member: 27"]
A wrongful stock-theft conviction just collapsed after the allegedly stolen oxen turned up alive somewhere else entirely.

Chrispen and Taurai Sanyatwe walk free
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[*]Chrispen and Taurai Sanyatwe spent four years locked up for supposedly stealing two oxen in Tikwiri Village, Rusape.
[*]Their September 2021 trial handed down 10 years, with one year suspended.
[*]Chrispen was a serving cop at Rusape Rural Police Station when arrested.
[*]Key defence witnesses were never called to testify at trial.
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Fresh evidence blows the case apart
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[*]Diana Murombe, the complainant, later confirmed via sworn affidavit that her cattle had been found in Mutambira Village.
[*]Physical descriptions she gave at trial did not even match the recovered animals.
[*]Defence lawyer Pepukai Mabundu argued that ownership was never actually proven by prosecutors.
[*]Zimbabwe's Supreme Court heard the appeal before Justices Guvava, Mathonsi, and Mwayera.
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Prosecution folds, and acquittal granted
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[*]Tozivepi Mapfuwa, representing the National Prosecution Authority, conceded the conviction was unsafe.
[*]Justice Mathonsi questioned whether any reasonable court could have convicted on that evidence.
[*]A consent ruling delivered full acquittal for both brothers.
[*]Their legal fight stretched over five years from the original November 2020 complaint.
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