The case in which Lusaka Lawyer Keith Mweemba has been accused of trying to corrupt a public officer has taken a new development after it has been established that a fake state witness who was who purported to be a forensic expert from the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) was not actually detained at Lusaka Central prison but Ridgeway police, contrary to court orders.
The unqualified IT expert, Lovermore Cheelo lied under oath that he was a forensic Information Technology expert from ZICTA was found guilty of contempt of court by Lusaka magistrate Lameck Mwale last week on Friday. the magistrate ordered that Cheelo be detained for a day for lying under oath.
According to a search conducted, Cheelo was ordered by the Magistrate Mwale to spend a night at Lusaka Central Prison commonly known as Chimbokaila, but it has been established that there are no records of Cheelo’s detention at the prison.
But according to police records obtained and analysed from Ridgeway Police post, Cheelo spent a night at the holding cells at the station, which are within the Lusaka Magistrate Court premises.
The probe also revealed that Cheelo was picked from Ridgeway Police post around 06:00 hours by Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) prosecutor Macqueen Zaza and other prosecutors.
According to police sources there was a grave irregularity because suspects are only supposed to be released from holding cells between 08:00 hours and 17:00 hours, but Cheelo was released from Ridgeway Police Post at 06 hours.
As a result of this irregularity, defence lawyers applied for an inquiry to be instituted following the disobedience that was committed against a lawful court order, which required Cheelo to be detained at Lusaka Central Prison and not RidgeWay Police Post.
The state tried to object to the application by the defence, but it was argued that they could not respond from the Bar (bench for lawyers and prosecutors in Court) because they could only give evidence from the witness box where they could be cross examined.
At this point, the state argued that the inquiry could be held at a later stage in order to proceed with the main case, but the defence objected saying the inquiry could not be postponed because it had a consequence on the current proceedings.
In Magistrate Mwale’s ruling, having analysed the nature of disobedience, the court observed that there was contempt of court committed because his order had been disobeyed.
Magistrate Mwale advised that the defence could proceed to follow up the matter to have whoever disobeyed the order could be prosecuted for contempt outside court.
Legal minds and sources within the Law Association of Zambia, there are two ways in which contempt of court can be dealt with; by summary procedure where the magistrate deals with the matter as part of the proceedings in which the contempt occurs, or by way of complaint and charge before another magistrate as for normal criminal proceedings.
In one special case, there is a provision for proceedings by way of preliminary inquiry and committal to the High Court for trial.
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