Child trafficker in Zanzibar after jumping Malawi court bail
A suspected child trafficker who has been at large after a court in Malawi’s northern border district of Karonga gave him bail in a case he was accused of trafficking 26 Muslim children under the pretext of enrolling them in a school in Tanzania has been spotted in Zanzibar.
Impeccable sources from Zanzibar told Nyasa Times that sheikh Abdul Mallick Audrey is currently operating unregistered “Qur’an School” not far from Zanzibar University in which he is keeping six Malawian Muslim students under unfavorable conditions.
“I have been visiting him with my friends but what I see is very pathetic. He is having six Malawian Muslim boys who are doing piece work for his survival during the day time. He only teaches them Quran during night when the boys are resting. Surprisingly he has been blocking my attempt to chat with any of the boys for unknown reasons” says the source.
The sources adds that there was an indication that the man may harm the boys once it has been revealed that he is mistreating them “because it seems that his intentions to keep them are not Godly so any immediate intervention from government authorities would assist.”
According to court documents Sheikh Abdul Mallick Audrey stopped attending the court hearing in Karonga since the day he was granted a bail and there is no information to why the accused is not respecting the court order.
“It’s now third time the accused is not with us in court but we hear nothing from him or his sureties of what is happening for the accused maybe the lawyer should tell the court the way forward,” said Peter Piringu, State Prosecutor on the last court meeting on the case.
Added Piringu: “I went to Mzuzu to trace where the sureties are after we were told that the suspect is not reporting to the nearest police which is Mzuzu but I did not found them and I was told that they have been shifted to another district but no one know the exactly place, and I therefore ask the court to give me more time to allocate where the sureties are.”
However, lawyer representing the accused George Kadzipatike who the court tasked him with the responsibility of assisting the prosecution team in tracing the whereabouts of his client, told Nyasa Times on Wednesday that it was news for him that his client is in Zanzibar although he admitted that he was still at large.
“I really don’t know where he is right now. And I can’t manage assisting the government is tracing the whereabout of the suspect. After all I stooped representing him since the time I lost touch with him. He is no longer my client now and I can’t say whether I will be ready or not to represent him again when he comes back. Let’s cross the bridge when we reach there” he said.
The Karonga Magistrate court granted bail Sheik Abdul Mallick and his now acquitted accomplice Mustafa Ndelemani in May soon after their arrest after Kadzipatike asked the court to give the suspects a bail saying they have a right to be granted a bail.
Kadzipatike convinced the court that that the suspects have travel documents and all necessary evidence that the court may need to give them a bail.
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