daniel chigunwe
Zvikomborero Parafini
BUSINESSMAN Allison Tamayi said he could not mistake the identity of nightclub owner, Blessed “JB” Charakupa, who is on trial on assault charges, because he knew him since he was a regular patron at his joint Club Zone in Highfield.
Tamayi, who is in the transport and logistics business, said he also knew Charakupa very well since they are both businessmen.
Tamayi was testifying in the case in which Charakupa and his gang are accused of assaulting his son, Tanaka, who is a student, and nephew Obert.
The trial resumed yesterday with Tamayi testifying.
Asked if there was a possibility that he could have mistaken him for someone else, Tamayi told prosecutor Dzidzai Josiah that he is a regular at Charakupa’s bar.
“I’ve known him since he opened his bar and above all he called me asking if we had got to the extent of ruining each other’s businesses and he was seeking for a truce, so I’m certain that it was him.”
Tamayi dismissed Charakupa’s claim that they had connived to falsely implicate him.
“I know Charakupa as a club owner who owns Club Zone and on January 26 we had been invited to a birthday party by a friend of ours and it spilled into the next day.
“When we went to the party I was with my child Tanaka, my nephew Obert and my wife and we saw that it was now morning, so we decided to go home.
“When we went outside, we didn’t leave the club using the same exit so when I got outside I saw that there was commotion and when I looked closely I saw that one of the people we were with was fighting with someone else.
“Other people tried to stop the fight while I was waiting for my son Tanaka who had gone to get the car as it was parked further down from the club’s entrance.”
He added:
“I inquired from Ronald why he was fighting but the fight ended and as I walked to our car, which had been brought to where I was, another car blocked our car.
“The occupants disembarked and Charakupa went to open the driver’s door, where my son was sitting, and he started assaulting my son.
“Another man from his camp opened the passenger’s door and tried to beat my son but someone was sitting at the passenger’s seat so he couldn’t reach him.
“I started crying asking him why he was beating up my son in my presence and as I was screaming one Kenny then told them to stop beating him as I was known to them.
“Obert was in his car and when he saw that there was commotion at our car he came and when he arrived Charakupa started assaulting him, together with the dreadlocked man, till he fell down, Obert then woke up and ran away.”
The trial resumes on January 21 next year.
