A senior medical doctor and former Registrar of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe, Dr. Collin Benyure who was convicted of perjury after deliberately misleading the court by falsely claiming he had authority to testify on the council's behalf has escaped jail by a whisker after a Harare magistrate handed down a wholly suspended sentence.

Magistrate Donald Ndirowei sentenced Benyure to six months wholly suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Dr. Benyure (64) was found guilty of violating Section 183 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] which prohibits making false statements under oath during judicial proceedings.

Dr. Benyure was convicted after falsely claiming while testifying as a defence witness in an earlier case that he had been authorised by the council to speak on its behalf.

This assertion was later debunked during his perjury trial, when the State produced a council resolution confirming that no such authority had been granted--prompting prosecutors to argue that he had knowingly misled the court under oath.