Passing of sentence on two Roman Catholic priests was conditionally postponed for 3 years by the Appellate Division of the High Court in Salisbury in July. Fathers IGNATIUS MHONDA and PATRICK MUTUME had each been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment (4 years suspended) by Umtali Magistrates Court in February 1977, for failing to report guerillas. They had been granted bail pending their appeal. Chief Justice Macdonald, presiding, said that the date of the priests' original trial - 2 days before the Appellate Division had given judgement in the case of the former Bishop of Umtali, Donal Lamont - had materially affected the outcome. Had it taken place a few days later there might well have been no prosecution at all.
On 7 July, the Appellate Division upheld a ruling by a special court in Bulawayo that it had jurisdiction to try a man abducted in Botswana. BURUNYEWU NDHLOVU had been born in Rhodesia but had lived in Botswana for several years. In December 1976 he was kidnapped by Rhodesian security forces and subsequently brought to trial on charges of possessing arms of war. The Appeal Court confirmed that Ndhlovu was both a Rhodesian national and, in terms of the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act, could be presumed to be resident in Rhodesia.
Three weeks earlier, Amon Nyathi, described as a deserter from the regime's Selous Scouts, had been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment by a Magistrates' Court in Gaborone, Botswana. Nyathi had pleaded guilty to four counts of abducting Botswana residents and citizens into Rhodesia. He told the court that he had been forced to assist three other men, two of whom were Europeans, to kidnap 16 year old Disang Modiakgotla from Moroka village, Botswana, in 1976. He had also helped in the abduction of Abel Mophane, Jotha Bango, and Burunyewu Ndhlovu. Modiakgotla, Maphane and Bango had subsequently been released when the Salisbury Appeal Court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over Botswana citizens. Nyathi said he had later deserted from the Selous Scouts while on leave and crossed into Botswana.
