The private prosecutor Charles Warara has approached the courts for an amount to be set, that he has to be paid as legal costs, after the determined lawyer secured a 10-year rape conviction against the Bikita West Zanu PF MP Munyaradzi Kereke.
Warara wants regional magistrate Noel Mupeiwa to order the payment of the amount he accrued in legal fees and related expenses over the past six years.
The regional magistrate is expected to determine the amount of damages payable to Warara.
Kereke, who is the former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe advisor, was jailed for an effective 10 years by Mupeiwa on Monday after he was found guilty of raping his wife’s then 11-year old niece in 2010.
Warara, who relentlessly prosecuted the case, confirmed to  that Mupeiwa will deal with the issue of the legal costs incurred during the trial today at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts.
“We will be going to court. We have requested the magistrate to sit and determine the costs arising from the private prosecution,” Warara said.
He also said he was contemplating suing Kereke for damages.
The financial assets of the 44-year-old Rock Foundation Medical Centre founder, who personified the arrogant model rich man, are more at risk from the ongoing civil suit that has been filed.
A loss in the civil litigation could be very costly for the jailed Kereke, whose career as an aide to RBZ governor Gideon Gono, made him one of the wealthiest people in economics.
Warara’s award can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and is going to be enormously expensive for Kereke, who is married to three wives and has 17 children.
Warara further said at the moment, the circumstances are not justifiable for them to challenge the sentence imposed.
Kereke’s lawyer, Eram Mutandiro, on Tuesday said that he had not yet received instructions from his client to file an appeal challenging both conviction and sentence.
Warara said they will cross appeal if Kereke decides to appeal against the sentence.
Kereke’s case became a protracted court battle that lasted six years after suspended prosecutor-general Johannes Tomana initially declined to prosecute the businessman, arguing that he had no case to answer.
However, the victim’s guardian Francis Maramwidze, refused to back down and demanded justice in the case.
Tomana’s deputy Florence Ziyambi eventually issued a certificate for Kereke’s private prosecution after the Constitutional Court gave the prosecutor-general an ultimatum to comply with the order or face 30 days in prison.