Brother to arrested suspect in blocking the president convoy case appeals to lawyers for help: “We are poor.”
Jonathan Chimimba—brother to Pearson Chimimba who is in police custody allegedly accused of being involved in blocking the presidential convoy—says he does not believe that his brother committed the alleged offence and despite that, his family cannot afford to hire a lawyer because they are poor as such he is appealing to lawyers to help them.
Said Jonathan: “We know that our brother did not commit the alleged offence, but our fear is that we can lose the case because we are poor and don’t have money to hire a lawyer.
“We understand that some people have lost cases because of lack of legal representation. If you look at all the video clips that are circulating, you will not see a vehicle which Pearson was driving blocking the convoy. So, we are appealing to lawyers who can offer free services to help us on the matter.”
Jonathan spoke the media yesterday while visiting his brother who is being kept at Blantyre Police station.
Police on Monday arrested Pearson Chimimba, 48, and Hector Ndawala, 38, in Chirimba for allegedly obstructing and throwing stones at President Lazarus Chakwera’s motorcade in Blantyre on Friday.
Chimimba is accused of blocking the presidential convoy with a vehicle he was driving while Ndawala is alleged to have pelted the motorcade with stones when a funeral procession blocked it at HHI Roundabout on the Magalasi Road.
Speaking to media officials when they got in touch with them, both suspects expressed shock with their arrests, saying they were not involved in the offences.
Ndawala, a minibus driver, said: “I still don’t understand why I am here [police cell]. I arrived at the scene when the presidential convoy had already left.
“Why would I throw stones at the presidential convoy? If there are some lawyers who can help, please help so that justice should prevail.”
Police sources said Chimimba spent a night at Soche Police Station on Monday before being taken to Blantyre Police Station yesterday morning while Ndawala, who was arrested while he was loading passengers in Ndirande Township, was taken to Blantyre Police Station on Monday.
The President’s motorcade was blocked at HHI Roundabout by a funeral procession heading to HHI Cemetery. He was travelling to Chileka Airport to board a plane to Democratic Republic of Congo to attend the inauguration of that country’s President Felix Tshisekedi.
Viral video clips of the scene that went viral showed scores of people blocking the convoy’s lead vehicle for some minutes. The President’s official vehicle was also seen in the video and was covered by other vehicles as the crowd chanted “Ayime! Ayime! Wayimabeee! Wayimabee! [They should give us way! Great, he has stopped!].”
Hours after the incident, police transferred some of its senior officers, including South West Police Region commissioner Richard Luhanga to the Northern Region on the same position, swapping with Noel Kayira, who was Northern Region Police Region commissioner.
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