Lilongwe District Criminal Registry

8 judgments
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Results. 8 judgments found.

8 judgments
April 2026
Court substituted imprisonment with compensation to secure the convict’s parental responsibility and child welfare.
  • Criminal law — Sexual offences — Sexual intercourse with person under 18 — Consent immaterial under section 138(1) Penal Code
  • Criminal procedure — Sentencing and disposal — Compensation and discharge as alternative to imprisonment under section 32 Penal Code and section 337(1)(c)(i) Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code
  • Family law — Civil remedies — Victim’s right to pursue maintenance under section 96 Marriage Divorce and Family Relations Act
1 April 2026
January 2026
Withdrawal of a bail application does not terminate criminal proceedings; the court may grant release and issue case-management directions to protect liberty.
  • Constitutional rights — personal liberty and 48-hour rule — withdrawal of bail application — effect on ongoing criminal proceedings — habeas corpus as appropriate remedy — court's discretion to grant reliefs mero motu; case management and disclosure obligations.
20 January 2026
June 2024
Whether a spouse’s omission to obtain urgent care plus toxicology and circumstantial evidence establish murder.
  • Criminal law — Murder: elements (death, unlawful act/omission, malice aforethought) — Circumstantial evidence and last-seen doctrine — Post-mortem toxicology and algor mortis — Omission by spouse to obtain urgent care as actus reus/mens rea — Admissibility/weight of caution statement.
6 June 2024
January 2024
Applicant discharged under section 247 due to prosecutorial inability to produce evidence; court warns against prosecutions without evidence.
  • Criminal procedure — Discharge under section 247 CP & EC where prosecutor unable/unwilling to proceed; discontinuance as DPP's exclusive constitutional power; inapplicability of section 270 at substantive trial stage; prosecutorial duty to terminate prosecutions lacking credible evidence; abuse of process and protection of personal liberty.
9 January 2024
June 2022
High Court referred whether criminal libel law violates freedom of expression to the Chief Justice, staying trial pending certification.
  • Constitutional law — Freedom of expression — Criminal libel; limitation test under section 44 and compatibility with ICCPR art.19 and ACHPR art.9(2)
  • Constitutional procedure — Certification and referral — Power of subordinate courts and applicability of CPR; High Court's inherent jurisdiction to refer constitutional questions arising in criminal proceedings
  • Civil procedure — Scope of CPR (O.19) — Inapplicability to criminal proceedings; procedural lacuna and regulation of panel procedure by the High Court
20 June 2022
February 2021
Whether mosquito coils qualify as pesticides and whether leave for judicial review of their detention should be granted.
  • Administrative law — Judicial review (leave stage) — Pesticides Act — Definitions of "pest" and "pesticide" — Mosquito coils as pesticides — Importation of unregistered pesticides prohibited — Ignorance of law not a defence.
22 February 2021
November 2018
Conviction for theft by conversion upheld; sentence reduced due to trial court's impermissible sentencing considerations.
  • Criminal law — Theft by conversion — Lawful initial possession can be converted into theft by subsequent dishonest acts (failure to return, dismantling parts).; Sentencing — Appellate interference where sentence is based on wrong principles or manifestly excessive.; Sentencing principles — Family conduct and ability to afford counsel are irrelevant and impermissible considerations in sentencing.
21 November 2018
October 2018
Whether a clear guilty plea and properly drafted charge sustain conviction for unlicensed possession of medical products; sentence reduced.
  • Criminal law — guilty plea — plea clarity and effect; Sufficiency of charge under Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Act (s.45, s.65); Valuation of seized medical products — evidential role; Sentencing — application of Fines (Conversions) Act, proportionality and reduction of sentence.
12 October 2018