300 Evidence on charge of bigamy
(1) Subject to this section and section three hundred and one, on the trial of a person charged with bigamy, it
must be proved that a lawful and binding marriage between the accused and another person existed at the time
when the offence is alleged to have been committed.
(2) On the trial of a person charged with bigamy, as soon as the fact of a marriage ceremony in Zimbabwe
between the accused and another person has been proved, the marriage shall be deemed to have been lawful and
binding as between them at the date thereof unless it is shown that they were within the prohibited degrees of
consanguinity or affinity, or that owing to a then subsisting marriage one of them was incapable of contracting a
lawful and binding marriage with the other.
(3) On the trial of a person charged with bigamy, as soon as the alleged bigamous marriage, wherever solemnized, has been proved, the fact that shortly before the alleged bigamous marriage the accused had been cohabiting with the person to whom the accused is alleged to be lawfully married and had been treating and recognizing
such person as a spouse shall, if in addition there is evidence of the performance of a marriage ceremony between
the accused and such person, be prima facie evidence that there was a lawful and binding marriage subsisting
between the accused and such person at the time of the solemnization of the alleged bigamous marriage.
301 Proof of marriage
When the fact that any lawful and binding marriage was contracted is relevant to the issue at any criminal
trial, such fact shall be presumed unless the contrary is proved—
(a) where the marriage is alleged to have been solemnized in any part of Zimbabwe, as soon as there has
been produced to the court—
(i) in the case of a marriage in terms of the Marriage Act [Chapter 5:11] or any Act repealed by that
Act, a copy of an entry in a marriage register or a duplicate original thereof which purports to be
certified by a district administrator or the Registrar of Marriages referred to in section 30 of that
Act, as the case may be, or a duplicate original register of the entry;
(ii) in the case of a marriage in terms of the Customary Marriages Act [Chapter 5:07] or any Act
repealed by that Act, a copy from the marriage register, which purports to be certified as a true
copy by a customary marriage officer as defined in section 2 of that Act, or a duplicate original
register of the entry;
(b) where the marriage is alleged to have been solemnized outside Zimbabwe, as soon as there has been
produced to the court a document which purports to be an extract from a marriage register kept according to law in the country where the marriage is alleged to have been solemnized, and which also purports to be certified as such by an officer or person having the custody of that register:
Provided that the signature of such officer or person to the certificate shall be authenticated in accordance with any enactment governing the authentication of documents executed outside Zimbabwe;
(c) wherever the marriage is alleged to have been solemnized, as soon as the fact of the marriage ceremony
has been proved.
302 Evidence of relationship on charge of incest
On the trial of a person charged with incest—
(a) it shall be sufficient to prove that the woman or girl on whose person or by whom the offence is alleged
to have been committed is reputed to be related within the prohibited degree of consanguinity or affinity
to the other party to the incest;
(b) the accused person shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have had knowledge at the time of
the alleged offence of the relationship existing between him or her and the other party to the incest.
302A Testing of persons accused of sexual offences for HIV infection
(1) In this section—
“accused person” means a person accused of committing a sexual offence;
“designated person” …
[Definition repealed by section 25 of Act 9 of 2006.]
“sexual offence”…..
[Definition repealed by section 25 of Act 9 of 2006.]
(2) For the purposes of section 80 of the Criminal Law Code (“Sentence for certain crimes where accused is
infected with HIV”), and without derogation from any other law, when an accused person is first brought before a
court for remand on a charge of committing a sexual offence, or at any later stage, the court shall direct that an
appropriate sample or samples be taken from the accused person, at such place and subject to such conditions as
the court may direct, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not he or she is infected with HIV.
(3) Where a court has given a direction under subsection (2), any medical practitioner or suitably qualified
nurse shall, if so requested in writing by a police officer above the rank of constable, take an appropriate sample
from the accused person, and may use such force as is reasonably necessary in order to take the sample:
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