Former Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke serving an effective 10-year jail term for raping a juvenile relative at gunpoint was yesterday granted $500 000 bail, coupled with stiff conditions by the Supreme Court, pending his appeal against both the conviction and the sentence.

Kereke, who was convicted of rape in July 2016, had 20 months to go before he was due for release after time off for good behaviour when he got the greenlight to prosecute his appeal out of custody.

His first appeal against conviction and sentence by a regional magistrate was dismissed on 29 May 2019 by the High Court which declined to grant him an automatic leave to appeal from the first appeal to the Supreme Court.Kereke then applied to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal and last month he was granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. He then filed his appeal and so returned to the Supreme Court yesterday now seeking bail pending that appeal.

After hearing arguments from his legal counsel and the private prosecutor for almost three hours, Justice Mwayera found merit in Kereke’s application and granted him bail, with the reasons for her decision to follow later.

Professor Lovemore Madhuku and Advocate Tawona Nyamakura appeared for Kereke while private prosecutor Mr Charles Warara acted for the guardian of the relative he was convicted of raping.

The defence lawyers proposed tough bail conditions to strengthen their case for bail. The defence team also noted that Kereke had served the bulk of his sentence and has only 20 months to go. They implored Justice Mwayera to weigh Kereke’s prospects of success on appeal against the time already served.- The Herald