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A 31 year old Police Officer who wanted to enrich himself through crooked means at a road block in the Northern Malawi has been condemned to prison by the court thereby conveying a point that nobody is above the law.
A First Grade Magistrate (FGM) in Mzuzu unleashed 16 years to a Police Sergeant after being found guilty of robbery and in decent assault.
Facts of the case were that following a tip from a Mzuzu bound mini bus driver that he was carrying a foreigner, the police officer singled out the Congolese national-Dorothy Matabishi, took her behind the road block office where he searched in her bag before frisking her salvaging some K 100,000 on her waist. However, in the process on untying where the money was tucked he injured the complainant on the waist.
The first count earned the offender a 10-year jail while the other count called for six years behind the bars, but since the sentences will run concurrently; the policeman will be in prison for 10 years, the utmost.
The convict’s mitigation seeking for some leniency as he was a first offender, family man and bread winner, in addition to looking after old parents and staying in a rented house did not move FGM Anthony Banda who observed that although he was indeed a first offender, the Court hesitated to exercise clemency because the offender had disregarded his noble duty of offering protection to the life and property of people, choosing to commit the crimes instead.
And the fact that all the said cash was not recovered it further was a drawback.
The Magistrate also noted that the Courts have no obligation to rally behind officers who chose to go against the rule of law, but that it was clear that the sentences would aid in saving the corporate image of the Malawi Police Service.
