{"id":116631,"date":"2026-04-23T19:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:57:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:57:42","slug":"magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral","title":{"rendered":"Magaya Rape Trial Court Considers ConCourt Referral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>HARARE, Apr. 23 (NewsDay Live) \u2013 The rape trial of Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya will resume on May 15 before Harare magistrate Francis Mapfumo, with proceedings now centring on his bid to refer constitutional questions to the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n<p>The hearing was postponed on Thursday after both the State and defence said they were not ready with heads of argument following the completion of testimony by the investigating officer.<\/p>\n<p>Magaya is seeking referral of the matter to the Constitutional Court, arguing that his rights were violated and that the State continued prosecuting the case despite the withdrawal of some complainants.<\/p>\n<p>His defence has also raised concerns over alleged alterations to witness statements, an issue explored during cross-examination by lawyer Admire Rubaya.<\/p>\n<p>The investigating officer conceded making amendments to the complainant\u2019s affidavit, insisting they were clarifications rather than substantive changes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wrote the statement and sent it to me on October 23, 2025. She had not clarified the time and how the offence was committed,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cOn paragraph 11 she wrote, \u2018I refused to go because I knew the pregnancy was Prophet Magaya\u2019s.\u2019 I amended \u2018Prophet Magaya\u2019 to \u2018the accused.\u2019 The complainant would write \u2018prophet,\u2019 but as a police officer, I changed that to \u2018the accused.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Much of the complainant\u2019s affidavit focused on fear, family ties, and perceived influence surrounding the accused.<\/p>\n<p>She stated she delayed reporting the alleged rape because she felt \u201ccompletely unsupported and isolated,\u201d adding that her parents\u2014both employed by Magaya\u2014were unlikely to believe her.<\/p>\n<p>She also described Magaya as a \u201cwell-connected man\u201d with links to influential political and law enforcement figures, which she said contributed to her fear.<\/p>\n<p>The investigating officer confirmed that additional sections were introduced later as clarifications. \u201cParagraph 16 was not in the first statement. It was a clarification which I sought from the complainant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The affidavit also includes allegations linking Magaya to the complainant\u2019s pregnancy, including claims that instructions were communicated through her boyfriend regarding marriage arrangements and financial support.<\/p>\n<p>The officer further told the court that police obtained a warrant to remove Magaya from prison for DNA sampling, a procedure now being challenged by the defence as unlawful due to alleged absence of legal representation at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Magaya, who denies the charges, faces multiple rape allegations from congregants. In a separate matter before magistrate Esthere Chivasa, proceedings were stayed by the High Court after he successfully challenged the use of a Victim Friendly Court.<\/p>\n<p>He also faces fraud charges alongside his wife and company, which are pending before the High Court.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. HARARE, Apr. 23 (NewsDay Live) \u2013 The rape trial of Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya will resume on May 15 before Harare magistrate Francis Mapfumo, with proceedings now centring on his bid to refer constitutional questions to the Constitutional Court. The hearing was postponed on Thursday after both the State [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":116630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-116631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Magaya Rape Trial Court Considers ConCourt Referral - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"HARARE, Apr. 23 (NewsDay Live) \u2013 The rape trial of Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya will resume ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Magaya Rape Trial Court Considers ConCourt Referral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HARARE, Apr. 23 (NewsDay Live) \u2013 The rape trial of Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya will resume ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T17:49:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T19:57:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/04\/sm_1776974216.357264.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"543\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Magaya Rape Trial Court Considers ConCourt Referral\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T17:49:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T19:57:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral\"},\"wordCount\":448,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/04\/sm_1776974216.357264.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/magaya-rape-trial-court-considers-concourt-referral\",\"name\":\"Magaya Rape Trial Court Considers ConCourt Referral - 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