The two have been identified as based Billy Mawombe and Clement Sichali  who appeared before High Court Judge Justice Justuce Kishindo in Chitipa district today, Tuesday, where the Court had to rule on whether or not the accused have a case to answer.

It is alleged that Mawombe and Sichali were involved in the death of a man in 2019 after being beaten up. Relatives of the accused sought legal aid following their arrest in February 2020, and it was granted.

Justice Kishindo in his ruling on case to answer pointed out that the prosecution closed its case after parading three witnesses. One of the three witnesses said he saw the accused beat up the deceased but did not witness his death as he left during the beating.

A postmortem showed that the deceased died due to shock from excessive blood loss from a cut wound. The Court viewed that at this stage, the State only had to show that the accused could have caused the death of someone.

The Court therefore found the two with a case to answer as it believed that the State has made its case to warrant the accused to bring evidence in defence.

Addressing the Court on behalf of the accused, Principal Legal Aid Advocate Chikondi Duke indicated that Mawombe and Sichali are going to testify in defence concerning matters relating to whether or not they were at the scene where the deceased was attached.

He further told the Court that seven witnesses including the accused will be paraded to prove that they are innocent. The two already pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against them.

The High Court has adjourned the matter to January 2024 and the accused will remain on bail.

𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 (𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡) 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑖𝑑 𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑘𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖 𝐷𝑢𝑘𝑒, 𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑖𝑑 𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑠 𝑀𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑜, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑖𝑑 𝑂𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑧𝑖.