By Nigel Pfunde

Bulawayo – IN a sudden twist of events the proprietors of Pottery Industries in Bulawayo the gold dealers John Pietersen [56] and his son Liam [28] on trial in an assault case have turned tables accusing the police and prosecutors of corruption.

The duo, through their lawyers Nkomo and Sibanda legal practitioners allege that the law enforcement agents acted under political influence.

It is the State’s case that John and Liam attacked Bekezela Moyo the director of Allied Security who in the process sustained internal injuries on 16 July.

“Liam Farley Pieterson and John Farley Pieterson assaulted Bekezela Moyo by pushing and hitting him with fists all over the body, intending to cause bodily harm,” state prosecutor Busisiwe Sithole said during the initial appearance of the two men in court.
Moyo had visited Pottery Industries to find out why one of his employees had been prohibited from carrying out his security guard responsibilities during the processing of gold ore.
They didn’t stop there, they then circulated a voice note accusing an unarmed Moyo of armed robbery.
In video evidence presented in court, Moyo only acted in self defence after the Pietersens attacked him.

While they are out on remand, they were due in court on Monday 8 September but the matter was postponed after the two accused the judiciary and police of corruption.

In their letter seen by this publication, they claim police of bias, alleged there was “no transparency” in how they ended up being the accused since they were the ones who reported the matter to the police.

They also allege that they were not aware of any developments in the case. However, they have appeared in court twice. Their last allegation was that police didn’t conduct a thorough investigation.