BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Supreme Court of Appeal has denied bail first and second appellant in Paul Mphwiyo’s shooting case, MacDonald Kumwembe and Pika Manondo respectively.
Manondo and Kumwembe had asked the court to be released on bail pending appeal since there is no date set for hearing their appeal.
In 2016, Judge Michael Mtambo convicted Manondo and Kumwembe of attempting to murder Mphwiyo, with Ralph Kasambara being convicted of the charge of conspiring in the attempted murder.
Kasambara was sentenced to 13 years while Manondo and Kumwembe were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.
The three appealed against their conviction and applied for bail pending the conclusion of the appeal case in the Supreme Court of Appeal but Justice Dunstan Mwaungulu only released Kasambara on bail.
The development means the two will remain in prison.
The Supreme Court of Appeal has adjourned an appeal case involving former Minister of Justice Raphael Kasambara and two other convicts, Pika Manondo and Macdonald Kumwembe.
According to a notice of adjournment the case which was expected to be heard on 4th November, 2021 has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.
Kasambara, who is considered one of the country’s brilliant legal minds, was convicted of conspiracy to murder while Manondo and former Malawi Defence Force soldier Kumwembe were convicted of attempted murder of former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo.
High Court Judge Michael Mtambo convicted the three and sentenced Kasambara to 13 years, while Manondo and Kumwembe were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.
The three appealed against their conviction and applied for bail pending the conclusion of the appeal case in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
On March 14 2018, Supreme Court of Appeal Justice Dunstain Mwaungulu released Kasambara on bail but could not release Manondo and Kumwembe on bail.
Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal judge Dunstain Mwaungulu in granting Kasambara bail said the High Court ruling was contradicting in that it found Kasambara guilty of conspiracy to murder but acquitted him of attempted murder based on the same evidence.
Mwaungulu also argued that basing the conviction on call logs was wrong as the people involved in the calls could have been discussing other things.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)– Former justice minister and Attorney General Raphael Kasambara who escaped from prison through Supreme Court bail in 2018 after being sentenced to 13-year jail term, for conspiracy to murder a civil servant, will be back in court end of this year.
Kasambara was found guilty by Judge Michael Mtambo of conspiracy to commit murder together with two others, former former Malawi Defence Force Soldier MacDonald Kumwembe and businessman Pika Manondo who were convicted of attempted murder of former Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo.
Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal judge Dunstan Mwaungulu, sitting as a single Supreme Court Judge, released Kasambara in March 2018, as he was pending appeal on his conviction.
But reports reaching Maravi Post indicate that the case will return to the Supreme Court of Appeal on December 9.
Kasambara’s Lawyer Lusungu Gondwe confirmed being served with the notice saying the matter is set before a panel of seven Justices of Appeal.
“This is purely for the appeal against the conviction of Mr Kasambara [and others]. We have not heard anything on the request which the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions Mary Kachale] made at the time of Mr Kasambara’s release. My presumption is perhaps that she abandoned that route,” he said as quoted in the print media.
Michael Goba Chipeta who is representing Manondo and Kumwembe also confirmed having been served with the notice.
“We will argue the appeal on the set date,” he said.
High Court Judge Michael Mtambo convicted the three and sentenced Kasambara to 13 years, while Manondo and Kumwembe were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.
The three appealed against their conviction and applied for bail pending the conclusion of the appeal case in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
On March 14 2018, Supreme Court of Appeal Justice Dunstain Mwaungulu released Kasambara on bail but could not release Manondo and Kumwembe on bail.
Immediately after the ruling, Kachale asked the court to pend its decision to free Kasambara on bail but the court asked her to make a formal application.
The shooting of Mphwiyo in 2013 opened a can of reports of massive plunder of government money at Capital Hill dubbed Cashgate.
The day Mphwiyo was shot outside the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe, Kasambara was meeting former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
However, Judge Mtambo relied much on circumstantial evidence in his ruling delivery.
“The remaining evidence, although mostly circumstantial, is strong enough to convict. With regard to Kumwembe, the description of him as being a tall and slim young man, corroborated by other prosecution and defence evidence discussed in this judgment, places him on the scene of the crime at the material time,” read part of the judgment.
Kasambara maintained his innocence claiming his conviction was as a result of “miscarriage of justice” pointing out that the trial judge Mtambo was “compromised.”
Raphael Kasambara convict to serve 13 years Jail time
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Supreme Court of Appeal will on April 3, 2017 starts hearing a bail application, pending appeal for the convicted former Constitutional and Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for conspiracy to murder former budget director Paul Mphwiyo.
Kasambara, alongside MacDonald Kumwembe, and Pika Manondo, were convicted last year and confined to Zomba Maximum prison, where they have the last spent eight months.
The three have since, appealed against the conviction, arguing that the High Court Judge Michael Mtambo, erred in sentencing them with evidence based on phone call logs.
Raphael Kasambara convict to serve 13 years Jail time
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost):The Malawi Law Society (MLS) has come clearly on the status of the convicted former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Raphael Kasambara who is also a Senior Counsel (SC) saying the latter still remains in good standing as a legal practitioner in the country.
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)— Justice Micheal Mtambo has slapped for former minister of justice Ralph Kasambara with 13 years jail term on the count of conspiracy to murder former budget director Paul Mphwiyo.
Kasambara’s fellow convicts in the case, Pika Manondo and McDonald Kumwembe, have been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for attempted murder and 11 years for conspiracy to murder Mphwiyo.
The two will serve a total of 26 years in prison since their sentences will run consecutively.
Kasambara was convicted of conspiring to murder Mphwiyo alongside former Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldier Macdonald Kumwembe and businessperson Pika Manondo who faced a separate charge of attemptingto murder the former budget director.
Mphwiyo’s shooting at the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe is believed to have exposed Cashgate, the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill.The case, which started in 2013, has been marred with hurdles ranging from application for recusals from defence, defence being thrown back into jail for contempt of court and other excuses.
Meanwhile, the defence is asking for bail in view of the fact that the three are appealing against conviction but Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) is objecting to bail.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The High Court in the capital Lilongwe has set August 22, 2016 as the date for hearing of submissions of mitigation factors before it can pass jail sentence to the Mphwiyo shooting case convicts; Ralph Kasambara, Pika Manondo and MacDonald Kumwembe.
This means that the trio will wait a bit longer in their custodial sentence following the conviction the prosecution secured last Thursday.
High Court Judge Michael Mtambo found Kasambara guilty on charges of conspiracy to murder the former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo. His accomplices, businessman Manondo and former Malawi Defense Force (MDF) soldier Kumwembe, were also convicted on an attempt to murder Mphwiyo.
Malawi Judiciary Spokesperson, Mlenga Mvula, told reporters on Tuesday that submission hearing of mitigating factors before passing sentences has been slated for August 22.
Mvula said that the judge had directed the concerned parties; defence and prosecution to exchange their submissions between August 16 and 22.
The Judiciary spokesperson clearly said that his office has not yet received an appeal application from former constitutional affairs minister Kasambara over last Thursday court judgment as he claimed that he would appeal against the conviction.
Under the Penal Code, the attempted murder offense attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment while conspiracy to commit murder carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
Manondo and Kumwembe handcuffed after conviction enroute to Prison
LILONGWE (Maravi Post)—Reading a spiritual book probably given to him by his spiritual father Prophet Shepherd Bushiri of the Enlightened Christian gathering Church, former Malawi Justice Minister Raphael Kasambara, together with the two others William Kumwembe and Pika Manondo were found guilty of the charge of conspiracy to murder former Malawi budget director Paul Mphwiyo. The other two, Kumwembe and Manondo were also found guilty of an attempt to murder Mphwiyo by Lilongwe High Court Judge Michael Mtambo. Continue reading Former Malawi Justice Minister Raphael Kasambara, Kumwembe and Manondo convicted of conspiracy to murder Mphwiyo; to appeal→
Raphael Kasambara from Minister to accused attempted Murderer
High Court in Lilongwe has reinstated bail for lawyer and former justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Raphael Kasambara and former Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldier Macdonald Kumwembe.
Kasambara and Kumwembe’s bails were revoked by High Court Judge Michael Mtambo on September 23, 2015 over what he claimed was an infringement on his private space by allegedly accessing his private information; making them to spend five and four months respectively on remand at Maula prison.
