Chanthunya’s bail, discharge bid fails: Court rules he remains in custody

The High Court in Lilongwe has dismissed an application by fugitive businessperson Misozi Chanthunya – who also faces extradition to Malawi from South Africa – to be granted bail or discharged.

Chanthunya is accused of murdering his pregnant Zimbabwean girlfriend Linda Gasa some seven years ago.

His lawyer Donvan Sulungwe applied for bail and discharge at the High Court in Lilongwe last year July.

High Court judge Chifundo Kachale dismissed the application, saying it is misguided.

Kachale said Chanthunya was responsible in derailing the extradition.

“Bearing in mind that the protracted extradition process has been occasioned partly by his [Chanthunya’s] own contestation of that procedure, it does seem rather disingenuous to attribute the same to the State and even invoke it as a basis for thwarting the earnest efforts of the respondents to bring him to this jurisdiction to answer allegations of homicide levelled against him,” said Kachale in dismissing the application

The fugitive who fled to South Africa following the alleged crime has been fighting his extradition in the rainbow nation courts fearing a possible death penalty if he is repatriated back home.

But Kachale said there was no legal basis for the court In Malawi to grant bail to Chanthunya as they have no  jurisdiction over accused that are undergoing due process of law, for example extradition in other countries.

He said the order of Malawi court for bail or discharge would not have any “legal validity or practical significance” within a foreign jurisdiction.

“Any remedies about his detention within a South African court should be pursued before a competent South African court,” said judge Kachale.

Chanthunya was captured by Interpol in Rustenburg South Africa on January 23, 2012 after being on the run for 17 months.

After the arrest, the Malawi government asked the South African authorities to have the suspect repatriated to Malawi, but the issue ended up in court.

The late Gasa was found buried under concrete at Chanthunya’s private cottage in Monkey Bay, Mangochi.

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