DPP corners Pika Manondo witness

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mary Kachale on Monday took on a witness who told the court that Pika Manondo was not at the scene of the incident at the time former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo claimed.
Businessperson Pika Manondo and former Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldier Macdonald Kumwembe are answering charges of attempted murder. The two are also jointly charged with private practice lawyer Ralph Kasambara in a conspiracy to commit murder count.

Mphwiyo and other witnesses have testified that he was shot around 11pm outside the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe on September 13 2013 before he was rushed to Area 43 Masm Clinic where he received emergency treatment on gunshot wounds.
But witness of truth Gospel Chimseu, who is a businessperson, said on the night of September 13 2013 when Mphwiyo was shot, he met Pika Manondo at Chez Ntemba Club in Area 47 at 11.10pm as he was walking out to head home.

Chimseu told the court that he knew Pika Manondo because they had dealt in the grain business together, but they had also worked together to support candidates at the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) convention held in August the same year.
He said he was sure that he met Pika Manondo at that exact time because he had a midnight curfew at home and he had looked at the time on his phone before walking out of Chez Ntemba.
However, Kachale took Chimseu to task on his insistence that he left Chez Ntemba at exactly 11.10pm, saying he could not have known the time if he had been drinking earlier.
When Kachale put it to him that Pika Manondo had coached him to say the time they met at Chez Ntemba, Chimseu denied the assertion.

“What would you say if you were told that the person you were with at 11.10pm was at Pacific Mall [in Area 10] at 11.12pm?” Kachale asked Chimseu.
But Pika Manondo objected to the question saying he never told the court that he was at Pacific Mall at that time but he simply informed the court how he travelled from Bwandilo.
“It is the State’s assertion that the witness was using Airtel call logs and at 11.12pm it captured him in Area 43, but he claimed that at that time, he was at Pacific Mall. Mr Chimseu was brought in as a witness so he could tell the court the exact time they were together. That cannot be disputed. But you are not sure of the time when you saw Pika Manondo that night,” Kachale said.
But Manondo insisted that the Airtel tower in Area 43 captured him there because he was not stationary as he moved between Area 47 and Pacific Mall in Area 10 between those times.
Kachale is expected to continue cross-examination of Chimseu today.