By Pemphero Malimba:
The Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court Wednesday suspended its ruling for 30 days after initially ruling that Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and wife Mary should be put in custody awaiting extradition to South Africa to answer charges.
During court proceedings, High Court Judge Madalitso Chimwaza, who was handling the case as Chief Resident Magistrate, ruled that out of the 10 charges the two were facing, there was sufficient evidence in three cases.
The cases are those of rape, forgery and fraud and contravening bail conditions.
Chimwaza said Prophet Bushiri should answer rape charges on three complaints out of eight complaints that were there and answer the two other offences together with his wife.
However, defence lawyer Wapona Kita prayed for the stay as he indicated that he wanted to seek bail for the two and appeal the ruling.
However, Chimwaza initially said the court could not grant the two bail and that the bail could be granted by the High Court.
Later, the wish was granted.
In an interview, Kita said the defence was happy that the court agreed with it to stay the ruling.
“We are happy that the court agreed with us on the issue of the stay. The issue of bail has not been handled because she says that’s for the High Court to decide but now the fact that she has stayed her decision for 30 days means we are going back to the same position as we were before the ruling,” Kita said.
He said the defence would sit down to map the way forward.
“We have 30 days. We will sit down. We haven’t even got a copy of the judgement; so, right now it’s too early to say anything.
“We were all listening to her but we need to go [through the judgement] and decide on what will be our grounds of appeal,” Kita said.
Director of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala said the State would wait for the defence to map the way forward on the case.
“We were representing the interest of the Republic of the South Africa government and we did the best we could but, obviously, we have been given the order that there is a stay for about 30 days.
“We will be waiting to see documentation from the accused persons, in terms of what will be their grounds, and, then, we will pick it up after that,” Chamkakala said.
This means the Bushiris remain free.
The Bushiris looked jovial as they arrived at court premises Wednesday.
Among other things, they greeted sympathisers.
The Bushiris left South Africa in 2020, when they cited safety concerns.
