A HARARE High Court judge has stepped down from hearing a case in which former parliamentarian Munyaradzi Kereke is seeking bail pending appeal against his imprisonment for rape.

The Former Bikita West MP was convicted and sentenced to an effective ten years in jail for raping, at gunpoint, a then 13-year-old relative.

Last month Justice Happias Zhou indicated that the former Zanu PF politician’s prospects of success on appeal were “high” but the court rejected his bid for freedom pending that challenge against conviction and sentence.

Justice Zhou ruled that Kereke was not a proper candidate for temporary freedom but the former top Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe staffer has since launched a fresh bail application, citing changed circumstances.

On Thursday Justice Herbert Chitapi recused himself from hearing the application for professional reasons, having worked together with Kereke at the central bank.

“I am not able to deal with this matter. I have to recuse myself,” the judge said.

“Apparently, I was involved in this matter as the applicant’s counsel. My law firm was the one that represented him up until the State declined prosecution.

“Under the circumstances, it will not be proper that I deal with this matter.”

Through his lawyer Kereke, Advocate Thabani Mpofu, Kereke has launched a fresh bid for freedom, saying his estranged wife, Elizabeth Sibanda, had committed to accommodate and fund his house arrest if the court deemed that necessary.

Kereke said Sibanda had offered her Mandara property measuring as surety. In addition, another couple, Arnold Chidhakwa and his wife Barbara, also offered another Harare property as surety.

Sibanda was also said to be prepared to fund any overhead expenses incurred in connection with a house arrest at her Mandara property.

The developments, Kereke submitted, represented changed circumstances warranting his freedom pending finalisation of his appeal.