holding cells from around 1000hrs and initially appeared in court at around 1700hours. The prosecutor insisted that the matter go for trial despite the fact that the defence lawyer had only been furnished with state papers at 1700hrs. The children's legal counsel had to vigorously argue against instant trial. The Magistrate only granted postponement for the trial to proceed the very next day at 11.15 am. The same happened at Rotten Row Court, Chitungwiza Court and at the Bulawayo Courts. Although one can argue that the principles of a fair trial provide that an accused person has a right to have their matter dealt with expediently, in this scenario courts were sanctioning fast-track trials without affording children adequate time to prepare for their defences. The courts were not entertaining postponement of matters, and the prosecutors appeared under instruction to refuse and contest any postponements. This offends provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and national laws that stipulate that there should be adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defence when dealing with child offenders.48 The public violence trials generally, were characterised by mass trials and the dismissal of bail applications and other pre-trial applications made by legal practitioners. None of the adults were being granted bail whatsoever, and this appeared to be a pattern in courts across the country in cases of this nature. It appeared that prosecutors and Magistrates were under instruction to act in a particular way. In respect of prosecutors, this was informally confirmed on a number of occasions by prosecutors during informal conversations with lawyers. One p r o s e c u t o r c o n f i r m e d t h a t e v e r y d a y, prosecutors were reporting to their superiors on the progress of cases, on which lawyers appeared representing the accused, on what form of applications the lawyers were making, and on how the Magistrates were ruling. Challenges that lawyers faced with prosecutors included prosecutors not furnishing state papers to defense counsel on time; prosecutors ambushing accused children and their lawyers into trial, with the support of Magistrates; prosecutors refusing to entertain requests for diversion of cases; and prosecutors opposing certain applications that one could never expect opposition on, such as separation of trials of children from those of adult co-accused, and release of children on free bail into the custody of their guardians. In Marondera, however, there was a single case of public violence involving a child that came from Macheke, and prosecution was refused. Proceedings not Conducted in Camera When a child is being tried, the gallery should be cleared during proceedings. Other than court officials, only the child's parents or guardians are allowed in the court room, along with legal representatives of the child and the Department of Social Welfare. This is done so as to avoid harm being caused to a child by undue publicity which might have serious repercussions on the child. Children in conflict with the law have a right to privacy from the time they are arrested until the matter is completed in court.49 Due to the nature of the arrests that saw children arrested and co-charged with adults in groups, children made initial appearances in court rooms that were no cleared, and included members of the media. Almost all preliminary proceedings where not done in camera. However, most if not all the trials were properly held in camera. 4.8 Convictions and Acquittals The State’s evidence, as with most cases involving public violence in January 2019, was mostly circumstantial. In Chitungwiza, lawyer Job Sikhala who represented several minors in court remarked that some of the evidence brought to court as exhibits was not only laughable but absolutely shocking . Notwithstanding , a number of children were convicted. 48. Article 13 (3) (b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 49. Article 40 (2) (b) (vii) of the UNCRC and Section 195 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07]. 25 ‘Hear them Cry ’ – An Analysis of State Violence Against Children During the January 2019 Protests