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| National |
| Mpasu’s graveyard case fails to start |
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by
Emmanuel Muwamba, 20 April 2006
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05:15:06
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A case in which UDF spokesperson Sam Mpasu and two others are expected to answer charges of trespassing in a graveyard in Machinga in March failed to start in Zomba on Wednesday because the lawyer representing the former minister was preoccupied with another matter in the High Court in Blantyre.
Chief Resident Magistrate Luke Gama heard that John Gift Makhwawa was tied up with another case where UDF regional organising secretary McDonald Symon is answering a sedition charge.
Mpasu, Imramm Thennis and Hadj Inusa, a witchdoctor from Machinga, were charged with trespassing contrary to Section 189 of the Penal Code but they earlier pleaded not guilty.
The magistrate on March 13 granted bail to Mpasu and Thennis observing that the charge is a misdemeanour which did not warrant the two to remain in custody. However, Inusa was about to start pleading guilty on March 16 but was told to wait so that he could be heard together with the other two.
He is alleged to have escaped when Mpasu and Thennis were apprehended at a graveyard in Machinga but he later surrendered himself to Police on March 14.
Mpasu and Thennis were arrested in Machinga after villagers allegedly found them in a graveyard sitting on a tomb, police said at the time.
The State is expected to parade 10 witnesses.
A graveyard is regarded as a no go zone in most African societies. People can only enter it during a burial ceremony or after getting permission from a chief to pay respect to a beloved one.
In an interview with The Nation in March, Mpasu said the incident had nothing to do with witchcraft and also denied that he was found in a graveyard.
Mpasu is a former cabinet minister, MP and Speaker of Parliament . If found guilty the crime attracts a penalty of K2,290 or three months imprisonment.
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