The High Court has ordered government to compensate four individuals for false imprisonment, defamation and loss of business after they were arrested on suspicion of forging Vice-President Saulos Chilima’s alleged resignation letter in 2017.
The four are Cecilia Kumpukwe, sister to former president Joyce Banda, People’s Party (PP) spokesperson and Mzimba South East legislator Ackson Kalaile Banda, Stella Assani and Yesaya Mkwala.
They were arrested separately between April 21 and May 4 2017 after being accused of authoring a fake resignation letter purportedly from Chilima, who was then serving under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.
The four spent several days in police custody and were charged with making a false document contrary to Section 353 of the Penal Code, and publishing false news likely to cause fear and alarm among members of the public contrary to Section 60 (1) of the Penal Code.
They were granted court bail but the matter never went for full trial and fell through in January 2018, after the State failed to produce evidence to substantiate its claims. The four sued the government in July 2018.
In court, the four claimed their arrest was a sham and without any legal basis, as such, they were suing for false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, defamation and loss of business.
Judge Dingiswayo Madise agreed with them on three demands and dismissed the malicious prosecution, arguing that no prosecution took place but a mere attempt to prosecute.
In his ruling, Madise observed that the police were duty-bound to arrest people where there is reasonable suspicion and belief that an offence had been committed.
Reads Madise’s determination: “There was no formal complaint. The police admitted that they acted on their own motion based on social media reports. There must be evidence pointing at the accused for the police to effect an arrest.”
He also said there was no evidence to implicate the four as such their arrests should not have taken place.
Reads the ruling: “On a balance of probabilities, I have searched the evidence before me and I find that the police had no reasonable belief or suspicion to arrest the four. This was a pure case of abuse of office which was based on overzealousness and unprofessionalism. Additionally, the police had no search warrant nor did they have warrants of arrest.”
Further, the court found that the arrests did not only affect the claimants’ liberty, but also greatly affected their standing and reputation in society, specifically in the eyes of right-thinking members of the public.
“I, therefore, find that the four were falsely imprisoned. The police had no reasonable cause to arrest them and they must be compensated for the pain, suffering and humiliation they suffered,” the ruling further reads.
The court then gave 14 days, from January 25 2022, for damage assessment, but according to lawyer Mwaiwathu Majawa who represented Kumpukwe, Kalaile Banda and Yesaya Mkwala, the date for the exercise was yet to be set.
“When the court is deciding the amounts, it will consider how long they were kept in custody and how they were treated while there. The amount may also be increased if the imprisonment was especially an abuse of official powers. This is called punitive damages,” said Majawa in an interview.
