NO NEED Of WITINESSES ON BUSHIRI’S CASE

The State is refusing to bring to Malawi South African witnesses in Prophet Shepard Bushiri’s case to authenticate the affidavit based evidence in the extradition request.

Lawyer for Bushiri Wapona Kita asked the Malawi Court to bring the witnesses before the court because extradition requests, according to Malawi Laws demand that witnesses are paraded.

Kita argued that the State must not rely on evidence it has not seen or authenticated while pursuing an extradition.

He added that the Extradition Act itself in Section 9 is clear on that and how evidence must be received.

According to Kita, the act says the court has same jurisdictions as a preliminary enquiry and the hearing cannot deviate from that.

But Director of Public Prosecutions, Steven Kayuni objected to this by saying, bringing witnesses from South Africa to Malawi could subject the Bushiris and the witnesses to two trials; one in Malawi and the other in South Africa.

Kayuni said as it is not a trial at the High Court but a preliminary inquiry, it is not necessary to bring in the witnesses.

Meanwhile the case has been adjourned to Monday next week.