Judgment No. CCZ 9/14 16 Const. Application No. CCZ 276/12 This is an assumption that the court cannot make. In my view there is nothing that militates against a blind person being a credible witness and it has not been established that the State cannot be asked to afford facilities to assist the witness in giving evidence. Apart from the long delay, Mawere-Mubvumbi did not state how his defence would be compromised if he went to trial now. He had since developed illnesses and was on treatment for stress, diabetes, hypertension and arthritis. Although Mukandi had received some payment the employer had received no such payments. He also stated that he did not believe that he would receive a fair trial. He said he had learnt that the State did not want him and the other two tried in the absence of Mukandi. He was asked if he had any witnesses to call if the matter went to trial and his response was “I do not want to think of any, we would go down to a book of Guinness”. He should have shown exactly how being tried now would prejudice him in his defence. This was not an answer to the question. In my view he has not shown any prejudice to his defence. These remarks apply with equal force to Nyabondo. It appears to have escaped the legal practitioner who was representing the applicants when the application for referral was made that each of the applicants individually had to show prejudice. When the Meman was asked if he had any witnesses who could testify on his behalf, he stated that he could not recall any. He told the magistrate that he had since developed health problems related to trauma, stress and all the things that go with it. His evidence was to the effect that the stress extended to his family members as people would phone asking what was going on.