The Senior Resident Magistrate Court sitting at Zomba has on Friday, 17th May 2024 acquitted a University of Malawi (Unima) driver, Lauden Kalepa, of a traffic offence of being involved in an accident and failing to report the same to the Police within 24 hours.

It was alleged that when entering the highway from the University of Malawi direction, Kalepa hit a pedestrian with a car he was driving and never reported the matter. The pedestrian identified Kalepa as the one who injured him on the said road.

In December 2023, a matter against Kalepa commenced in the Senior Resident Magistrate Court. Kalepa sought assistance from the Zomba Legal Aid Bureau office and was represented in Court by Senior Legal Aid Advocate Martin Dallas with support from Assistant Legal Aid Officer Sinthani Sisya.

The matter proceeded to full trial where the State paraded three witnesses including the victim and a Police investigator.

In his defence through Counsel, Kalepa denied ever being involved in an accident as at the particular time of the alleged offence, as he was not driving.

He testified in Court that he passed by the spot at around 10 o’clock while the State claimed that he was at the scene at around 8 o’clock.

In delivering her judgement, Senior Resident Magistrate Her Worship Mercy Bonongwe stated that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Kalepa was involved in an accident as the evidence could not place him on the spot of the alleged accident. The Court therefore set him free.