High Court of Malawi - 2007 September

8 judgments
Skip past Court registries
Skip past years
Skip past months
Skip to results

Results. 8 judgments found.

8 judgments
September 2007
Conviction quashed where flawed identification and investigative failures left guilt unproven beyond reasonable doubt.
  • Criminal law — Robbery — Identification evidence — Proper conduct of identification parades and investigation — Investigation failures (failure to question witnesses at scene, failure to conduct scene identification, failure to call material witness) undermining prosecution case — Insufficient proof beyond reasonable doubt
27 September 2007
Leave for judicial review refused where applicant challenged award size, not the procurement decision‑making process.
  • Judicial review — public procurement — leave to apply for judicial review under s.38(13) — Order 53 — review focuses on decision‑making process, not mere dissatisfaction with award size — unreasonableness standard.
25 September 2007
Possession of stolen property soon after a robbery and failure to account supports conviction, but sentence reduced for youth and first offence.
  • Criminal law — Robbery — Possession of property shortly after offence as evidence of guilt; failure to call named witnesses; sentence mitigation — youth and first offender; reduction of excessive sentence.
18 September 2007
Whether reliable identification and possession of the weapon supported the robbery conviction and warranted a five-year sentence.
  • Criminal law — Robbery — Identification evidence and on-the-spot identification — Possession of weapon and flight as corroboration — Sentence review and reduction.
18 September 2007
Amendment under Order 20 r11 rejected as attempt to introduce fresh evidence, not correct a clerical slip.
  • Civil procedure — correction of judgment — Order 20 r11 — limited to clerical mistakes/accidental slips — cannot be used to introduce fresh evidence or vary substantive findings — inherent power to correct confined to making a judge’s obvious meaning plain.
12 September 2007
Application to amend judgment under Order 20 r11 denied where requested change would introduce fresh evidence, not correct a clerical error.
  • Civil procedure — Order 20 r11 (clerical mistakes or accidental slips) — correction limited to clerical errors — cannot be used to introduce fresh evidence or to vary substantive findings; Evidence — period of employment — issue not contested at trial — finality of judgment; Inherent power — limited to making judge’s intention plain, not relitigation.
12 September 2007
Minister’s decision to withhold consent to a land sale for reasons related to mortgagor’s vulnerability was lawful and not Wednesbury-unreasonable.
  • Administrative law — Ministerial discretion under Land Act s24A — scope and reviewability; Wednesbury reasonableness; procedural fairness; mandamus; material change of circumstances.
11 September 2007
A guilty plea was unsafe where prosecutorial facts did not establish the requisite mens rea for unlawful wounding.
  • Criminal law — unlawful wounding (s.241(a)) — mens rea — guilty plea — magistrate’s duty to test plea where facts suggest lack of criminal intent — safety of conviction.
11 September 2007