High Court Stops Magistrate From Continuing With Walter Magaya Rape Case Days After ConCourt Bid Dismissed

High Court Halts Walter Magaya Rape Trial After Urgent Court Challenge

Harare – In a stunning legal reversal, the High Court has stepped in to block a Harare magistrate from continuing with the rape trial of Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries leader Walter Magaya, just days after his bid to have the matter referred to the Constitutional Court was thrown out.

High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi, on March 12, 2026, granted a temporary stay of proceedings, effectively freezing the case that was scheduled to continue before Magistrate Estere Chivasa. The ruling follows an urgent chamber application filed by Magaya’s legal team, challenging Chivasa’s decision to hold the trial in a Victim Friendly Court (VFC).

Judge Halts Trial Pending Review

Justice Chitapi ordered that the proceedings involving four complainants cannot move forward until the High Court has fully determined Magaya’s review application challenging the magistrate’s ruling.

“The proceedings in the Magistrates Court in Case Number CRB HRE R 139/26 are temporarily stayed pending the determination of the application to review those proceedings filed before this court in Case Number HCH 953/26 on 27 February 2026,” Justice Chitapi ruled .

The judge set out a strict timeline, requiring respondents, including Magistrate Chivasa and the Prosecutor General, to file their responses by March 13, with Magaya’s reply due by March 20. Both parties must submit their heads of argument by early April.

Magaya, represented by lawyers Everson Chatambudza and Admire Rubaya, is not only challenging the VFC ruling but also seeking the magistrate’s removal from the case. He wants the trial to start afresh in an open court before a different magistrate.

In his court papers, Magaya launched a blistering attack on Chivasa’s decision-making.

“The 1st Respondent openly confessed to relying on the State outline, a document of mere allegations, and to ‘believing’ the State Counsel’s word without independent verification, without interviewing the witnesses herself, and without any evidentiary foundation,” Magaya stated.

He added:

“This is the flimsy basis upon which the 1st Respondent ordered that my trial be held in a Victim Friendly Court. That is not adjudication; that is abdication. It is shocking, profoundly disturbing, constitutionally reckless, and a grave miscarriage of justice”.

Constitutional Court Bid Dismissed

The High Court’s intervention came just one day after Magistrate Chivasa dismissed Magaya’s application to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court. Chivasa ruled that the application lacked merit and that the case would proceed in the Victim-Friendly Court to protect vulnerable witnesses.

Chivasa proceeded to deliver her ruling even as the High Court was simultaneously hearing Magaya’s urgent chamber application, arguing that the High Court proceedings had no bearing on her decision.

In a separate case before Harare Magistrate Francis Mapfumo, Magaya is pursuing another application to refer charges involving three complainants to the Constitutional Court. The prophet alleges that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) continues to pursue the case despite one complainant withdrawing her allegations.

Magaya testified in support of that application on March 12, telling the court:

“After being arrested on November 1, on 6 November 2025, we received a letter with an attachment of an affidavit which shows that it was sent to prosecution offices and also served to my lawyers. One of the accusers cited that she has withdrawn and does not want to continue” .

He insisted the prosecution’s conduct amounted to persecution.

“It all amounts to fixing me. They are aware that their witness has withdrawn. The reasons of withdrawal may state the truth. It is the job of the prosecution and police to review complaints as well as withdrawals,” Magaya said .

“The state is only looking at its face, not the truth. They are not seeing my embarrassment. They chose to ignore an unfair trial because of the agenda to fix me.”

The State, through chief public prosecutor Foelane Muronda, is opposing the applications, arguing that a withdrawal letter from one complainant was still undergoing administrative processing.

The High Court is yet to set a date for the full hearing of Magaya’s review application, leaving the controversial cleric and his accusers in legal limbo for now.