The Ndola Magistrate Court has granted former Defence Minster George Mpombo a bail of K2 million and three working sureties.
ZANIS Ndola reports that in a case heard in Chambers, Magistrate Kelvin Limbani granted the former Defence Minster after hearing submissions from both the prosecution and the defence teams.
“I have considered the application before me and the filled documents, indeed bail is a constitutional right that is granted at the discretion of the court, after considering all the circumstances of the case and the fact that there is no objection from the state, I shall therefore grant the convict bail under the following circumstances, cash bail of 2 million and he shall provide three working sureties in their own recognisance,”he said.
And in part the defence team submission read that the record showed that the notice of appeal against the sentence had been filled and suggested that the repellent be admitted to bail on grounds that the 60 days imposed sentence was short and that by the time the high court would hear the appeal and render the judgment the accused would have already served the custodial sentence.
And in reply state prosecutor Lawrence Mudednda said the sate appreciated the fact that bail was a constitutional right and left the decision to the court.
“We have received the summon of cause and notice of appeal, we appreciate that bail is a constitutional right and therefore leave that decision to the court to decide,” he said.
Mr. Mpombo was on Monday 9th August 2010 sentenced to 60 Days simple imprisonment and fined K 4 million for bouncing a cheque amounting to K10 million.
ZANIS
Ala ba pombo washula kwena- lol wishing you the best-
What is repellent ? …..Is it another term for appellant?
Kukosa bakalamba
What Mpombo will do will be too much for them to handle, he is taunting them and they will fall for his game, trust me, this is a guy who should have gone quietly if he was ignored, but he was elevated by MMD. When they paid attention to his utterances then they surrendered to him. If Ba Mpombo was my father I would hug him and just ask him to stay quiet and enjoy the release from the cells because you never know what would befall you after spending a week in the cells (all sorts of illnesses, without proper shower/bath and many others).
Aba nabena bachikala ebakachula ifyakukonkelela membe.membe will just use you to fight rupiah and abandon you later.you will die of depression
SUPREME Court judge Lombe Chibesakunda on Wednesday upheld a 20
year-jail term imposed on a 36-year-old Chingola man by the High Court for
stealing a bicycle valued at K345,000.
Before justice Chibesakunda, sitting in Kabwe, was Davis Kasakula who on February 19, 2005 in Chingola whilst acting together with unknown people stole a bicycle belonging to Davison Kazela.
But justice Chibesakunda upheld the sentence, stressing that her team had carefully considered the record of appeal and the proceedings before the High Court and, therefore, was satisfied with the punishment meted out.
“We are satisfied that the trial judge based his conclusions on the question of credibility of the witnesses before him. He chose to believe the story of the prosecution as opposed to the story of the…
story of the appellant and because of this, we are satisfied that there was overwhelming evidence against the appellant,” justice Chibesakunda noted.
We cannot, therefore, fault the learned trial judge’s conclusion when he convicted the appellant on evidence before him and, therefore, we dismiss this appeal as we find no merit in it. We, therefore, confirm the sentence of 20 years imprisonment with labour.”
Well am not an expert in law but this sounds very outrageous and unfair . People who have killed ,stollen millions of Dollars and Billions of Kwacha are all going scot free and yet this poor man who just stole a bicycle perhaps in pursuit to feed his hungry children and wife at home or to take his sick mother to the hospital is given 20 years with hard labour .I smell a rat…
I smell a rat here ,learned friends on this forum please enlighten me on this one . Am totally confused and I feel very dettached from home right now .
On the part of Mpombo , It is high time he changed his game plan ,otherwise the MMD might just finish him to the point of death next time .
Wapia baisa. Kukosa. Nelson Mandela was a Jere boy. Came out stronger than ever. Kick them were it pains MPombo.
#8, I am no legal expert but from my experience reading the court pages of newspapers it seems the higher the court the stiffer the sentence. But to qualify to go to the High Court, the case must be one of the more serious ones even though it involves a mere bicycle. From the twenty year sentence, I suspect that the theft was carried out with force, e.g. aggravated robbery. The newspaper report was probably economical with facts as usual, so you need to dig deeper to verify before you make such conclusions.
#4, “If Ba Mpombo was my father I would hug him and just ask him to stay quiet and enjoy the release from the cells because you never know what would befall you after spending a week in the cells (all sorts of illnesses, without proper shower/bath and many others).” Yes agreed and we may add that under these conditions, he may need medical evacuation by the very innocent people that he insults everyday.
But this Magistrate Kelvin Limbani is mocking Mpombo. He might just bounce another cheque of K4million in order to meet his cash bail.