High Court judge Edward Musona has verified that the Munali violence video which was resubmitted is an exact copy of the original one which he watched during trial.

Judge Musona said the video, which led him to nullify Professor Nkandu Luo’s seat, was authentic.

This is a case in which Prof Luo appealed the nullification of her seat to the Constitutional Court.

The video in question was missing from the files when the matter went to the ConCourt and it was later decided that it be resubmitted but verified by the trial judge.

Judge Musona viewed the video on Tuesday and when the matter came up for ruling, Thursday, he explained that what he saw in the video was the same as when he first viewed the video on October 5, 2016.

“This ruling follows the directive from the Constitutional Court that this court views the video which depicts some violence during the Munali constituency parliamentary election campaigns which were held on the 11th August, 2016. The objective of viewing the video is for this court to ascertain the authenticity of a video. I first viewed the video in open court on 5th October, 2016. I then viewed it on 20th March, 2018, again in open court. My observations is that what I viewed on the 5th October, 2016 is the same with what I saw when I viewed it on the second occasion on 20th March, 2018,” he said.

“I say so because this is a court of record. And as such it is mandatory for this court to take notes of proceedings during trial. And these notes of proceedings form part of the recording proceedings known as the case records.”

He ruled that the disputed video evidence was authentic.

“When I viewed the video on 5th October, 2016 I took notes. Those notes formed part of the case record. When I viewed the video on the second occasion on 20th March, 2018, I again took notes of the proceedings. I therefore had the opportunity to compare what I viewed on the first occasion with what I viewed on the second occasion. My observations is what I viewed on 5th October, 2016 is outlined on pages 238 and 239 of my handwritten record of proceedings,” said judge Musona.

“This can be verified from the record of proceedings of 5th October, 2016 on pages 238 and 239. I stated the same in almost similar terms in the judgement and this can be seen and verified on page j41 of my paged judgment delivered by this court on 22nd November, 2016. Now therefore, I’m satisfied that the video evidence upon which this court inter alia based this decision to nullify the 11th August, 2016, Munali parliamentary election results is intact. From the avoidance doubt, I repeat, the video is authentic.”