Lawyers representing Goodness and Mercy Ministries leader Prophet T Freddy who allegedly raped and assaulted radio presenter Rutendo Makuti, yesterday challenged the admissibility of a recording played in court as evidence implicating their client.
When T Freddy’s trial commenced on Thursday , the state played a recording between him and Makuti after visiting her aunt who wanted to understand the nature of the relationship between the pastor and the broadcaster.
In the recording, Makuti accused T Freddy of raping her.
But T Freddy’s lead lawyer Everson Chatambudza yesterday argued that the hour long recording was inadmissible as it did not meet requirements of the law to be tendered as evidence.
He argued that the recording was not in its originfreddal form as the phone which recorded it was not the one used to play it in court.
He said an expert witness should have come to court to certify that the recording was not tempered with.
Magistrate Gloria Takundwa, however allowed the recording to be tendered as evidence for the purpose of the trial.
She also ruled the court would consider the weight of the recording when making its deliberations and also call the police officer who extracted it from Makuti’s phone to testify.
Under cross examination Chatambudza queried why Makuti had denied in court that she had a consensual relationship with T Freddy when in the recording she told her aunt she planned having sex with the pastor a year after the passing on of her husband as per tradition.
“Well, when I said that to her I was trying to say we were courting but not dating.It was a courtship and not a relationship,” Makuti responded.
