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Court dismisses CCTV disclosure in Mphwiyo case

The High Court in Lilongwe yesterday dismissed an application by lawyers for some accused persons in the case of attempted murder of former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo who wanted the prosecution to make available closed circuit television (CCTV) footage.

The defence wanted the footage from Mphwiyo’s house after the State argued it had no intention of using it as evidence in court.

Former budget director Paul Mphwiyo
Former budget director Paul Mphwiyo

Lawyer Ralph Kasambara, Dauka Manondo, Pika Manondo, Macdonald Kumwembe and Robert Kadzuwa are accused of attempting to murder Mphwiyo on September 13 2013.

Mphwiyo’s shooting at the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe opened a can of worms now known as Cashgate.

However, the court has ordered the prosecution to release to the accused persons, Kasambara and Pika, statements and telephone call logs within seven days to enable them have a fair trial.

The five are expected to take plea when hearing of the attempted shooting of Mphwiyo starts in two weeks’ time.

New judge in the case Michael Mtambo yesterday did not waste time as he proceeded to hear the preliminary objections in the case which has stalled since Judge Esme Chombo recused herself in March this year.

Lawyer representing the accused persons, Wapona Kita, told the court that his clients wanted in their custody witness statements by Hophmally Makande, Joseph Chiumia, who is a security guard employed by Mphwiyo’s neighbour, George Mtchuka Mwale as well as telephone call logs of Mphwiyo, businessperson Osward Lutepo and Jessie Mussa.

Said Kita: “The disclosure of these materials is crucial for the right to fair trial. This is a very serious case and the accused should be accorded all the materials to defend themselves.”

But Mtambo did not take kindly to Kita’s plea for adjournment after he failed to cite relevant laws to support his argument that his clients would be denied the right to fair trial if the materials were not disclosed to them.

In his explanation, Kita said he held the view that the new judge was already aware of the applications made by another lawyer, Lusungu Gondwe, before he took over the case a week ago, but Mtambo shot back that he had two days to prepare for the case and he managed to do so.

In objecting to the demands for disclosures, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Bruno Kalemba argued that calls for CCTV footage were premature and could only be brought to court once a ruling was made on whether the five accused persons had a case to answer.

“The law provides for recall of witnesses and they can do that when entering defence. The application was also directed to the wrong party. The State does not have the CCTV footage,” he said.

 

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