Chilubi local court magistrate arrested

Police in Chilubi district of Northern Province have arrested a local court magistrate for allegedly assaulting a person who appealed against his ruling.
Northern Province Police Commissioner, Mary Chikwanda, confirmed the arrest of the magistrate to ZANIS in Chilubi district today

This is a matter before Chilubi Subordinate court where Chiwanagala local court magistrate, Sydney Daka, 38, is alleged to have assaulted a 45-year-old man of the same area.

Facts of the matter are that on March 26, 2013, the victim, by the name Chileshe Mulenga, had a case which was before magistrate Daka and the ruling was passed in favour of the other person unknown.

However, Mr Mulenga was not happy with magistrate Daka’s ruling and decided to appeal the case to the subordinate court.

This angered magistrate Daka who later followed the old man and started beating him.
The victim later reported the matter to police and the docket was opened but the local court magistrate failed to attend the court session when the matter reached the subordinate court on January 23, this year.

However, this angered the prosecution team and asked the court for his immediate arrest and the court had no objection but issued a warrant to arrest the said local court magistrate.

When issuing the warrant circuiting magistrate, Timothy Daka, told police that the local court magistrate be arrested and remanded in custody for his failure to appear before the court.

Ms Chikwanda said the local court magistrate, who was reported to be out of the district for the past two weeks, was only cornered in Samfya district in Luapula Province yesterday and was expected to be taken to Chilubi police cells as he waits to appear before court.