State and defense outlines (Zimbabwe)

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If X pleads not guilty, or a plea of not guilty is recorded because he refuses to plead to the charge or to plead directly thereto, the next stage is to call upon the prosecutor and the defence to give their outlines: s 188 CPEA.

The prosecutor will first be called upon to make a statement outlining the nature of his case and the material facts upon which he relies.

The defence lawyer will then be requested to make a statement outlining the nature of his defence and the material facts on which he relies. If at this stage the defence fails to mention any fact relevant to the defence which, in the circumstances existing at the time, it could reasonably have been expected to have mentioned, the court may when determining the guilt of X for the offence charged or any other crime which he may be convicted of on that charge, draw adverse inferences from this failure and the failure may be treated as evidence corroborating any other evidence against him: s 189(2) CPEA

The State and defence outlines do not constitute evidence; they are merely a summary of the evidence which each side intends to produce during the course of the trial: Nyandoro S-114-87.


See Zimbabwe Criminal Defense Manual