THE STATE v NTOKOZO MLOTSHWA

HB 22/20

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Case Details

Court

Bulawayo High Court

Date

12 February 2020

Citation

HB 22/20

Neutral Citation

[2020] ZWHB 22

Outcome

unknown

Case Type

Review

Bench

Presiding

TAKUVA J

Full Bench

TAKUVA JMoyo J

Areas of Law

Criminal ProcedureCriminal Law

Keywords

essential elementsplea inquiryyoung personundefended accusedgross irregularity

Key Issues

{"issue_text":"Whether a conviction based on a plea of guilty is valid where the trial court failed to canvass an essential element of the offence with an undefended accused.","issue_type":"procedural","dispositive":"yes","related_facts":"Failure to ask accused about knowledge of complainant's age"}
{"issue_text":"Whether the accused's knowledge of the complainant's age is an essential element of the offence of having sexual intercourse with a young person.","issue_type":"law","dispositive":"yes","related_facts":"Nature of the charge under s70(1)(a)"}

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background

Facts of the Case

Background

The accused was charged with contravening section 70(1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for having sexual intercourse with a young person. He pleaded guilty before a magistrate in Plumtree. The Regional Magistrate queried the conviction because the trial magistrate did not canvass the essential element of the complainant's age during the plea inquiry.

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