By Brenda Kaonga
The Supreme Court of Appeal has stopped court proceedings in the alleged fake certificate case against Norman Chisale, former body guard of ex- president Peter Mutharika pending an appeal.Chisale is answering three charges before the Senior Magistrates Court in Lilongwe.
The charges are Personation of a Person Named in a Certificate Presenting False Information to a Person Employed in the Public Service and Intimidation.However, Chisale applied at the Supreme Court of Appeal for leave to appeal against a decision of the High Court and for a stay order on the proceedings in the magistrate court pending the appeal.Earlier, the high court allowed the state to amend its charge sheet and re-open its case after trial was already concluded in the magistrate court.
The court also directed the state to comply with the law which states that once the charge sheet has been amended it should be read to the accused and the accused should take fresh plea. But Chisale is of the view that once the state closes its case, the only legal way forward was for the magistrate court to deliver its ruling on whether or not he has a case to answer not the re-opening of the states case.
In his ruling, Justice Lovemore Chikopa of the Supreme Court of Appeal has stalled the case in the magistrate court and has allowed Chisale to appeal the decision by the high court. Speaking in an interview, Chancy Gondwe, lawyer for Chisale said the way the case was heard in the magistrate court was not in accordance with the law.
