High Court overturns James Seyani's conviction and sentence

The High Court in Lilongwe has ordered an immediate release of 30-year-old James Seyani as his conviction and sentence have been quashed.

James Seyani of Mbewa Village T/A Mduwa in Mchinji was on 26 July 2022 convicted by a First Grade Magistrate Court sitting at Chilobwe for the offense of burglary and theft.

He was sentenced to six years of Imprisonment with Hard Labour (IHL) on the first count and 12 months IHL for the second count. The sentences were running concurrently from 19 May 2022.

It was stated in May 2022 in the lower Court that Seyani together with his two co-accused broke into a store room and made away with a metal block.

It was also indicated in the Court that he was arrested whilst he tried to sell the block to someone else.

Convinced that the First Grade Magistrate made an error in handling the matter, Seyani sought legal aid and filed for an appeal of the conviction and sentence. The appeal was handled by Senior Legal Aid Advocate Maziko Nyirenda (in Court) and Assistant Legal Aid Officer Sharon Somba.

The first ground for the appeal was that the Magistrate erred when he found Seyani guilty and convicted him of the offense of burglary. In the Court record (judgment), there was no evidence that he committed the offense besides being found in possession of property suspected to have been stolen.

His co-accused also admitted to committing the offense and did not mention doing it with Seyani.

The second ground of appeal was that the Magistrate made a mistake when he found Seyani guilty and convicted him of the offense of theft as there was no evidence suggesting that he committed the offense besides being found in possession of property suspected to have been stolen.

The third ground of appeal was that the Magistrate erred when he imposed custodial sentences that were manifestly excessive.

Delivering his ruling on the appeal in the High Court, Justice Mvula agreed with submissions from Legal Aid Bureau and therefore quashed the six-year conviction and sentence of James Seyani.