Judge Kenyetta rules Chasowa case should proceed
Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda of the High Court has ruled that the murder case of Polytechnic student Robert Chasowa a former fourth-year engineering student at the Polytechnic, can be certified by Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal before it goes for a judicial review.
This follows an application by two suspects in the criminal proceedings—first defendant Petros Tembo and second defendant Geoffrey Doff Botoman—to have their case discharged.
Private practice lawyer Ambokire Salimu, representing the applicants for discharge, wants the wheels of justice to roll as he said the suspects’ right to a fair trial was being violated because Section 42 [2] [F] [1] provides for a fair trial which includes a speedy trial .
Salimu said Tembo and Bottoman, who were the first to be arrested, applied for their case to be discharged after they stayed for over a year without being taken to court for trial.
“I want my clients to be discharged because the state is failing to prosecute them since their arrest in 2012,”said Salimu.
The chief justice is the only one allowed by law to give such certification but the current chief justice Andrew Nyirenda chaired the Robert Chasowa Commission of Inquiry when he was judge.
However, in his ruling Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda said Supreme Court of Appeal with a panel of three judges will give “guidance” on how certification rules can be applied.
Chasowa was killed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and state operatives for being critical of late president Bingu wa Mutharika on September 24 2011.
He was found dead near the dispensary and finance blocks office at the Polytechnic campus under questionable circumstances.
The inquiry into the student’s death named 15 suspects, including Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) MP, Noel Masangwi, boxing promoter Mike Chitenje and former and current Big Bullets Football Club supporters’ chairpersons Isaac Osman and Stone Mwamadi respectively.
The then police spokesman Willie Mwaluka repeatedly told people that Chasowa killed himself and produced a hand written suicide letter from the student but the inquiry established it was the work of handwriting expert at the police.
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Referring to James Phiri’s comment we have to face the fact that the way in which our judiciary have been managed since Richard Banda left office, is absolutely shocking and horrifying in the extreme. We all know that Anastasia Msosa was appointed by Joyce Banda simply because she was the first female who could possibly become CJ after Munlo’s sudden departure. Otherwise she did not have the intellectual capacity to be even a judge and really disgraced the Office of the Chief Justice in such a manner from which it still has to recover as at the end of her… Read more »
Matafale died on 27 November 2001 and with Chasowa we have it all over again!!!!!!!!! Another martyr gone to heaven while being failed by the justice system. What Kenyatta decided should have been done many years ago not now!!!! And then there will be endless delays in the process of getting guidance from the panel of judges in the Supreme Court. We have been told that Msosa failed the nation in the case of Robbie and we understand that she should never have been a judge. Likewise there were many judges before and came after her who failed the nation… Read more »
First wise ruling from judge kenyata since he became judge
bingu akuyankha kwa Namalenga.
U are just wasting tax payers money without progress. it was the DPP govt that had had a hand in the brutal killing of Robbie. How does the nation expect justice to prevail with these guys at the helm again.
God himself will reveal to us the truth behind chasowa’s death. Otherwise the same killers will be compensated for detention without trials. God have mercy on this sick and sinking nation called Malawi
I doubt the progress of this case. Joyce Banda failed to pursue it because there was no evidence despite forming and charging many commissions of inquiries on this issue. The truth is that in Malawian culture people do not just die, people do not commit suicide. Hence blaming others for their death.
AKUTI CHANI CORRUPT MANIYU? WAPEZA EVIDENCE YABODZA KUTI MULANDU WA CHASOWA UTHE OPANDA CHILUNGAMO? I WILL NEVER TRUST THIS MAN AGAIN, HE IS A FRAUD