There are reports that jailed ECG Ministries Founder and self-proclaimed Prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s lawyers were recorded stealing docket papers or charge sheets from the judge’s desk during his bail hearing today.
In the video, a lady is seen scooping papers on the Magistrate’s desk soon after she leaves the court. In another video, Bushiri is seen communicating using eyes with someone in the court and Tweeps are suggesting Bushiri was instructing his team to steal the court papers from the judge.
Officers of the court have weighed on the reports and their general conclusions indicate there was nothing illegal about the incident.
Viewers saw a woman grab a document from the bench after the magistrate left and claim she was stealing evidence or the docket evidence. None of this is true.
Watch the video below that has gone viral suggesting Bushiri and his lawyers stole the docket from the magistrate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQM-DdjeR8I
This is what happens in court:
Clerks of the court give prosecutors charge sheets in the morning or the day before so that the prosecutor can call the name of the accused and the case number. Clerks are the custodians of charge sheets and evidence that is submitted.
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They basically “lend” the prosecutors and the magistrates the charge sheets before they take them back. After the prosecutor calls the accused, the charge sheet is then given to the magistrate. The magistrate records manually what the prosecutor and the attorney says in the charge sheet. The magistrate will also record her decision and when the case is postponed which court the case will be heard and the status of the accused (whether on bail, in custody etc).
Once the magistrate is done making a ruling on a case, the charge sheet is given back to the clerk and oftentimes, magistrates will place the charge sheet on the edge of the bench as this magistrate did and the clerk will only notice this when court adjourns or when the magistrate alerts the clerk that they are finished with the charge sheet.
Dockets
Prosecutors and the police are the only people who can touch a docket. Not attorneys, not magistrates, not clerks and a docket will definitely NOT be given to a magistrate for ANY reason
So the document in question is not a docket. We need to stop being alarmist and learn to ask questions when we’re not sure what is going on.
Bushiri and his lawyers DID NOT steal docket documents in video