Court awards Poly lecturer K2.5 million
The High Court in Blantyre last week awarded a Malawi Polytechnic lecturer K2.5 million (about $10 000) as damages for false imprisonment.
Police on the night of July 6 last year arrested Simbalashe Mungoshi around Kamba drinking joints in Blantyre and locked him overnight at Soche Police on a rogue and vagabond charge.
Mungoshi said in an interview on Thursday, he was the following day, taken to a magistrate’s court in Machinjiri Township where he denied the charge, but got convicted after the hearing.
The court, he said, slapped him with a six-month jail term and gave him an option of a K2 000 (about $8) fine, which he paid.
Mungoshi challenged the conviction at the High Court, arguing he committed no offence as police officers asked him to follow them to Soche Police when he was arrested at Kamba and that he drove himself to the police station.
The High Court overturned the lower court’s ruling.
Mungoshi, through his lawyer Gaston Mwenelupembe, filed a suit against the State for false imprisonment. The Attorney General (AG) did not challenge the case on behalf of the State.
