Bowman unlawful assembly fails again
By Thandizo Banda
DEFENCE in the case in which former Lusaka Province minister Bowman Luambo and four of his co-accused are charged with unlawful assembly failed to take off in the Kabwe magistrates court again because the lawyer handling it, Sikute Muliokela, was reported to be sick.
When the case came up before Kabwe resident magistrate Gloria Chipasha for Lusambo to begin his defence, National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) officer Wisdom Mulinda applied for the adjournment of the case, citing the non-availability of the advocate in charge of the case who was reportedly recovering from injuries she recently sustained in a road traffic accident in Lusaka.
“Your Honour, we have an application to make before court today.The state advocate handling the matter is not before this honorable court as she is unwell recovering from injuries she recently sustained in a road accident in Lusaka. Besides that, the docket of the case has not been availed before court for us to appreciate the contents of the matter. Based on the aforementioned reasons, it is our prayer to have the matter adjourned to a later date,” Mulinda said.
But defence lawyer Chandiwila Nyimbili from Makebi Zulu and Associates expressed concern at how the case had dragged with several adjournments.
“We expected the case to take off today, but we are taken aback by yet another adjournment. Our expectation was that another advocate should have been assigned to run with this case.We believe that the absence of the advocate is not of her own making but due to circumstances. We are concerned about the safety of our client A1 [in apparent reference to Bowman Lusambo] who has had to travel back and forth between Lusaka and Kabwe for this particular case.
Chipasha granted the application.
“It is in the interest of justice that the State is given an opportunity to organise themselves because counsel was involved in an accident was not available and she is the only one who understood the case and it was not going to be in the interest of justice to proceed in her absence,” she said.
Chipasha emphasised the need to strike a balance between the State and the defence.
“And based on these reasons the application to adjourn the matter has been granted,” she said.
Lusambo, 48, is jointly charged with Central Province Patriotic Front (PF) chairman Billy Sichamba, Saidi Chibwana, Mathews Changwe and Martin Simfukwe.
They are alleged to have committed the offence in Kabwe last year.
On January 15 this year, after hearing submissions from seven state witnesses, Chipasha announced a prima facie case against the accused persons and put them on their defence.
