The State has asked the High Court sitting in Lilongwe to urgently review a controversial and deeply troubling judgment delivered by the Mchinji Magistrate's Court, which sentenced Ernest Chimpeni to six years in prison for allegedly defiling a minor.
Director of Public Prosecutions Fostino Maele says the State wants the High Court to determine whether Section 138(1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code was properly applied in convicting Chimpeni, raising serious questions about whether justice was actually served or simply railroaded.
In a stunning twist, Maele revealed that evidence presented before the Mchinji court clearly showed that the girl was 19 years old at the time of the alleged relationship, as indicated on her national identity card -- a fact that fundamentally undermines the very basis of a defilement charge.
If this evidence is accurate, then the conviction raises grave concerns about judicial recklessness, misapplication of the law, and a potential miscarriage of justice.
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Even more damning is the background to the case. Chimpeni was dragged to court following a bitter fallout with the girl's parents, who had initially consented to the relationship and marriage plans. The dispute only escalated after Chimpeni allegedly withdrew from the arrangement upon discovering that the girl was already pregnant by another man.
What should have remained a private domestic dispute appears to have been weaponised into a criminal case, resulting in Chimpeni being thrown behind bars on what now looks increasingly like legally shaky and morally questionable grounds.
The High Court in Lilongwe is now expected to scrutinise the entire judgment and pronounce itself on whether the lower court acted within the law -- or whether it presided over a serious judicial blunder with devastating consequences for an innocent man's freedom.
Meanwhile, prominent human rights lawyer Silvester Ayuba James has stepped in to assist in the matter and told Nation Online that he will be seeking bail for Chimpeni, arguing that continued incarceration under such disputed circumstances is both unjust and indefensible.
As the case heads for review, it is shaping up to be yet another embarrassing test of Malawi's criminal justice system, exposing how personal vendettas, weak investigations, and careless rulings can easily conspire to destroy lives under the cloak of the law.
