Harare - Murder charges have been dropped against the Zimbabwean guerrilla-war veteran alleged to have shot dead a white farmer, David Stevens, court officials said on Tuesday.
Stevens was the first of six white farmers killed in more than nine months since President Robert Mugabe began his attempt to seize white-owned land.
Daniel Chitekuteku, 41, was released from custody after charges were dropped "for lack of evidence", said Fungai Nyahunzvi, magistrate's court prosecutor in the town of Marondera, about 75km east of Harare, where the alleged killer was being held.
He said Chitekuteku would be arrested again if police collected more evidence.
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The affidavit was made in a statement to police shortly after the killing Stevens, 48, was abducted from his farm, Arizona, by a mob of veterans in the Macheke area near Marondera on April 15.
Chitekuteku was arrested in September after a witness claimed to have seen him shoot Stevens. When Chitekuteku first appeared in court the same month, the state said he had led a savage assault on Stevens, had shot him twice at point blank range and had left him for dead.
Legal sources who asked not to be named showed reporters an affidavit from a farmer abducted with Stevens who watched a man - said to be Chitekuteku - shoot the injured Stevens with a shotgun, first in the face and then in the back.
The affidavit was made in a statement to police shortly after the killing.
Chitekuteku is the only person arrested in connection with the six deaths. About 2 000 white-owned farms have been invaded since February.
Three days after Stevens' killing Mugabe declared white farmers "enemies of the state". In June he declared he felt no regrets over Stevens' death and said the farmer "had it coming to him".
Stevens was an outspoken supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Farmers and their union say police are under instructions from senior politicians not to act against war veterans and the gangs of youths recruited by the ruling Zanu (PF) party that have waged a campaign of violence and harassment.
In October Mugabe declared an amnesty for all "politically motivated crimes" committed since the start of the farm invasions, in a move that gave impunity to thousands of thugs held responsible for violent incidents in what is seen as the most politically chaotic year in the country's history. - Sapa-DPA
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