Judgment No. CCZ 7/2015 5 Const. Application No. CCZ 472/14 “It is further to be remarked, as everyone who has had experience of these matters knows, that the demeanour of a witness is apt to be very different when he is being questioned by the judge to what it is when he is being questioned by counsel, particularly when the judge’s examination is, as it was in the present case, prolonged and covers practically the whole of the crucial matters which are in issue.” In this case, it was contended on behalf of the applicant that the manner in which the learned judge in the trial conducted himself revealed hostility to the applicant. In S v Mangezi (1) ZLR 272(S) DUMBUTSHENA CJ commented as follows: “It is not only when a judicial officer shows his bias that his leading or crossexamination of a witness may be condemned, it is also the fact of taking over the examination of the prosecution or defence witness that is not permissible.” Further to the above, the applicant has contended that the intensity of questioning by the judge whilst he was under cross-examination was more extensive than that of the prosecutor. Whilst the prosecutor put a total of 144 questions to the applicant during his cross-examination, the questions from the judge during the same cross-examination was a record 122. When the applicant’s counsel sought to re-examine the applicant, the learned trial judge put to the applicant an additional 24 questions bringing the total number to 146. However, it is not just the number of questions or their longevity that the applicant contests, it is also the content of the questions and the form that they took that is being complained of. Mr Nkomo drew the attention of the court to the impugned exchanges between the court and the applicant. To illustrate the gravity of the complaint, I set out a few examples of the same. The learned judge, after an answer to a question by the applicant, was heard to interject: “No, no, no … this does not make sense. What was happening to the money, you were making profits and that is why you were running the business, so what was happening to the money?”