Malawi body parts removers, traders judgment set for July 2
The Lilongwe Magistrate Court has set 2nd July as the judgment day for a case involving two Kamuzu Central Hospital mortuary attendants and two others being accused of removing and selling human body tissues.
During the last court appearance, the court found the four accused persons with a case to answer but lawyer representing the accused Alemekezeke Mando said his clients will exercise their right to remain silent which is in accordance to section 42(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi.
Mando then continued to ask the court to continue with the case to make its judgment but to exclude submission statements made available to the police as part of the evidence presented to the court arguing that his clients were forced by the police to do so.
“Your Worship, my clients have decided to exercise their right to remain silent which is in accordance to section 42(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi.
“We therefore would like to ask the court to continue with the case to make its final judgment upon us providing our final submissions within three working days, but in the judgment the court should exclude the submission statements which my clients made available to the police when they were arrested because they were forced to do so by the Police, ”Mando explained.
In response, State Prosecutor Cecilia Zangazanga said it is not fair enough for the defence counsel to ask for a retraction of the submissions in question saying it is too late for them to do so.
She said the statement was presented to the court some weeks ago and wondered why the defence counsel was bringing up the issue this time around when they had all the time to retract the statements.
“The state feels that the defence counsel is bringing up all this just to mislead the court; you will agree with me that its over two weeks now since the statement was presented in this court and there was enough time for them to make the retractions.
“I would therefore ask the court to proceed to make its judgment based on the evidence presented to the court,” she said.
Before adjourning the case to 2nd July, Senior Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa said the retraction of the statements by the defence counsel at this stage of the case is a clear indication that they are running away from the truth.
He therefore said he will provide his judgment based on the evidence that was brought before the court.
“I find the retraction of the statements at this stage absurd because the defence had all the time to do so and since the accused have chosen to remain silent, I will make my final judgment on the case on July 2 and so the case is adjourned to that date,” Chirwa said.
The suspects Lufeyo Mphimbi, Samalani Jabu, Eric Mwandira and Sabita Mwale are accused of being found with human body and supplying human body tissues which is contrary to section 16 of anatomy act.
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