Ruth Harawa with others after court
42-year-old Lazaro Banda was arrested in Mchinji district in 2015 on suspicion that he was involved in the death of his wife.
What happened on the day, according to him, was that he went to sell maize at Mchinji Boma. On return, he found his wife extremely sick despite being healthy earlier before leaving her.
Without delay, he called his friend and escorted the wife to the hospital. On the way there, she sadly died. Her family however suspected that Banda was involved in the death of his wife and he was later arrested.
He stayed in Mchinji police custody for two months. He later appeared before a Magistrate’s court and he was remanded to Maula Prison.
He has been on remand for 7 years with no court date being set and without any indication that his trial will commence in the near future.
With him being on remand in the overcrowding prison, life has been hard and his four children at home have not been receiving support.
Banda can now breathe a sigh of relief as with support from Legal Aid Bureau he has been granted bail by the High Court in Lilongwe. He is among 18 others who are to go home after staying in prison for years without their trial taking shape.
Senior Legal Aid Advocate Ruth Harawa who represented the remandees in court noted that people in custody require a lot of help since they find it hard to contact a lawyer when faced with such situations.
"It is very important and necessary for us to be conducting these exercises regularly because the people we represent are people with insufficient means and they are people who cannot afford to hire private lawyers.
"For us as Legal Aid Bureau, we have to help them because if we do not do that, it means they will stay in custody for longer periods of time," explained Harawa.
Of the 19 remandees, eight were granted bail on Wednesday, 25 January, while the rest were granted bail today.
The Bureau managed to represent the clients in the High Court with support from Paralegal Advisory Services Institute (PASI) who identified the homicide remandees at Maula Prison.
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