HARARE – The High Court has dismissed a bid by a convicted cattle thief to appeal against both his conviction and sentence, ruling that his case had “no reasonable prospect of success.”
Jarney Mumanyi, who was jailed for an effective 18 years after being convicted by a magistrates court on two counts of stock theft, had applied for leave to appeal.
But Justices Benjamin Chikowero and Happias Zhou threw out his application, saying the intended appeal was “manifestly doomed to fail.”
“There was overwhelming evidence against the applicant. No other decision was possible except to convict,” Justice Chikowero said.
Mumanyi and his accomplice, Austin Nyepai, were found guilty of stealing 17 cattle from one farmer and another four from a second farmer in Buhera in December 2021.
The pair were arrested the same night at a police roadblock in Wedza, where Mumanyi produced a cattle movement permit and police clearance certificate that were later discovered to be fake.
“The applicant himself, at the roadblock, was claiming ownership of the bovines. That claim was manifestly false,” the court said. “He was deeply involved in the theft, unlawful movement and ultimately the recovery of the bovines that it would be an insult to the intelligence of the appellate court to suppose that there is any chance of having the applicant’s conviction quashed.”
The judges also upheld the sentencing, rejecting Mumanyi’s argument against serving two consecutive nine-year terms.
“Crime should not be allowed to be a business enterprise,” Justice Chikowero said. “The offences were committed by an organised criminal gang… we take the view that there is no reasonable prospect of supposing that a further appeal may yield a different result.”
The application for leave to appeal was dismissed with costs.
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