Court denies Mussa John bail pending appeal

The High Court of Malawi has dismissed an application by teenage convict Mussa John for bail pending appeal against his conviction and sentence for being found in possession of 134 kilogrammes of Indian hemp.

Presiding High Court Judge Vikochi Chima dismissed the application on the basis that there were no exceptional circumstances to warrant granting bail.

Early this month, John, through lawyer Chikondi Chijozi, applied for bail pending an appeal in a case in which he is challenging both his conviction and the three-year-custodial sentence.

The application was based on several grounds, including what is called ‘unstable conviction’ due to the fact that both the lower and upper courts did not consider John’s plea of not guilty.

But in an interview yesterday, Chijozi said they received a court determination on Friday in which the judge indicated that there were no exceptional or unusual circumstances to granting the bail.

“The court has denied us bail, but we are now going to the Supreme Court on the bail application,” she said.

Chijozi earlier said it was an error for the court to hand a custodial sentence to the convict who is also a first offender while on several occasions, convicts in similar cases have only been given an option to pay a fine.

She said: “We feel that the court was very harsh. John is under 21 and the court could have considered Section 183 of the Childcare, Protection and Justice Act by giving him a non-custodial sentence.”

Chijozi said they applied for the bail taking into account that court processes take time and that John had already served about five months.

“So, if he is not released on bail, by the time the appeal case will be concluded, he would have served almost half of the sentence, which is not fair,” she said.

Two months ago, Chima trimmed the teen convict’s custodial sentence from eight to three years.

The court’s decision followed a review of John’s file at the magistrate’s court after acting chief resident magistrate (South) Chisomo Msokera recommended the same.

Chima had observed that the initial sentence of eight years imprisonment, handed to John by Limbe senior resident magistrate Byson Masonga on June 24 2022 would have stood if the convict was above 21.

John was arrested on June 22 2022 and sentenced two days later for the offence that contravenes Regulation 4(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations as read with Section 19(1) of Dangerous Drugs Act.