Political Reporter

Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) president and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) spokesperson, Obert Masaraure, appeared in court yesterday facing murder charges.

Masaraure is being accused of killing Roy Issa in June 2016 and later lied that the victim plunged to his death from the seventh floor of Cresta Jameson Hotel in Harare.

A source who spoke to this publication said that Masaraure was trying hard to exonerate himself from the murder case despite the available overwhelming evidence pointing to him as the prime suspect.

“Masaraure and his lawyer, Douglas Coltart, are trying hard to have the case thrown out of the courts. But there is overwhelming evidence pointing to Masaraure as the prime suspect. If the courts are to be fair, I don’t see Masaraure being exonerated from this murder case,” said the source.

The source added that there was an eye witness by the name Samantha Lauti, who saw Masaraure and his accomplices who are still at large assaulting Issa with unknown weapons along Park Street adjacent to Jameson Hotel.

The same source added that in order to conceal the offence, Masaraure and his accomplices lied that the deceased jumped from the seventh floor of Jameson Hotel.

 “There is an eye witness, Lauti, who saw Masaraure committing the crime. All these efforts by Masaraure and his lawyer to label his lawful prosecution as political persecution will not hold water because Lauti is ready to testify in court implicating Masaraure,” said the source.

Meanwhile, Masaraure was remanded in custody to 20 June 2022, after the state had opposed bail, on the grounds that he was a flight risk as he was facing a serious crime and was also likely to influence his other colleagues, who are still at large, to flee.