High Court Judge Fiona Mwale has given state and defence lawyers 48 hours to file written submission on sentencing of Cashgate convict Caroline Savala.
The judge was apparently not happy with the pace of the sentencing process. Savala was convicted on July 17, 2015, of the offence of laundering government’s K84 million. This means almost eleven months since her conviction.
When the matter resumed at the High Court in Lilongwe yesterday, Judge Mwale highlighted that the process is taking long.
“For the whole year, every time we try to meet, there is something which frustrates the process,” Mwale said.
She went through some of the reasons delaying the process since Savala’s conviction. She said some of the reasons related to the unavailability of Savala’s lawyer, Ralph Kasambara, and state prosecutor, Kamudoni Nyasulu.
After listening to views of the lawyer, Davie Lameck, who appeared on behalf of Kasambara and Nyasulu, Mwale ordered that the defence and the state should file written submissions.
“You have to file written submissions within 48 hours. There will be no oral submissions. All the issues in oral submissions should be addressed in writing. After the 48 hours, I will proceed with the sentence,” Mwale said.
Lameck earlier on told the court that he needed a week to understand the case before proceeding with the case. Mwale however dismissed the proposal.
“I am not going to give you more time. You expect me to give you more time after this long time? No. We should proceed,” Mwale said.
Lameck still told the court that he was appearing in court on brief, and that Kasambara is still Savala’s lawyer.
Savala already testified in court as part of her mitigation. What remained was re-examination, which Lameck said he would not do, since he was on a brief.
“According to my instruction from counsel Kasambara, there will be no re-examination at this stage,” Lameck said.
One of the reasons she used as a mitigation factor is that of good character. The judge guided both lawyers to use good character guidelines raised in a case involving Angella Katengeza, who was recently sentenced to five years imprisonment.
Katengeza also used good character as one of the mitigation factors.
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