At least 1,000 homicide suspects who are on remand have not yet accessed justice due to the backlog of criminal cases.
High Court Judge Justice Maclean Kamwambe said this on Friday during the launch of Criminal Division at the High Court in Blantyre.
Kamwambe said there is a backlog of cases because same judges are handling both criminal and civil cases; hence, criminal matters have been neglected.
The backlog of criminal cases has compelled the judiciary to establish a Criminal Division at the High Court which will have separate judges to handle criminal cases.
Justice Kamwambe said the main task now is to handle backlog of homicide cases to ease the backlog in future.
He added that the judiciary is aware that appeals of criminal cases have taken long to be heard as well as delay in delivery of judgments.
The judge further explained that the division of criminal cases will help to look into other factors that led to delay of criminal cases such as the absence of judges without notice and sloppy handling of files by the registry.
“Criminal cases have been like a ‘fatherless baby’ because they get little attention which puts the Criminal Justice System in disrepute. Ordinarily, criminal case stake precedence over civil cases, but in practice, criminal cases were forgotten. That why this launch is a milestone as it will help achieve timely criminal justice and reduce complaints,” Kamwambe said.
Paula Caetano is the executive member of the Malawi Law Society and she said the Criminal Division will help speed up unresolved criminal cases.
“Our prisons are congested because of delayed criminal cases which have been piling up. As Malawi Law Society, we are ready to support this initiative so that justice should prevail in time,” Kaitano said.
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