Stardy Mwale warned over non court appearance

Paul Shalala

ZNBC News

Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate DAVIES CHIBWILI has threatened to revoke the Police Bond for former Defence Permanent Secretary STARDY MWALE, if he abscond court without justification.

Magistrate CHIBWILI says he will be left with no option but to send Mr. MWALE to prison if he does not appear in court and his surety LIZZY MAKONDO fails to be in court to explain the reason behind his absentia.

Magistrate CHIBWILI said this in court this morning when he took to task Mr. MWALE who missed court on 20 March without representation.

And Ms. MAKONDO told the court that on the day in question, she came late with a sick note for Mr. MWALE but she did not serve it to the court.

She apologized for not informing the court that Mr. MWALE was unwell.

Earlier, Chief Resident Magistrate CHIBWILI granted the state an application to file witness statements, a list of witnesses and other documents beyond the allocated time.

This followed an application the state made to file documents beyond the stipulated time granted by the court.

In its application, the state argued that it failed to file the documents due to load shedding and other reasons.

However, the defence opposed the application saying load shedding was not a genuine ground for the application saying the state had all the time to file.

In his ruling, Magistrate CHIBWILI said the reasons by the state were reasonable and he allowed the filing of the documents by 15th April, 2024.

He later ruled that the documents must be served on the defence by 18 April.

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