By GRACE CHAILE LESOETSA
IMPRISONED Lusaka photographer Cornelius Mulenga, alias Chellah Tukuta, has appealed to the Lusaka High Court to grant him bail pending appeal against the two years sentence with hard labour.
Tukuta’s appeal for bail to the Lusaka High Court came barely 24 hours after High Court Judge Lameck Mwale, who sat as Chief Resident Magistrate in the matter, dismissed his application for bail filed by defence lawyer Linda Kasonde.
Mr. Justice Mwale dismissed the application on grounds that the reasons that Tukuta had advanced were frivolous.
He did not agree with Tukuta’s position that his appeal in the High Court has high prospects of succeeding because his conviction was well grounded.
Mr Justice Mwale sentenced Tukuta to 24 months imprisonment with hard labour for alleging that former Information Minister Dora Siliya is a prostitute who sells young girls to high profile men.
Tukuta, who is serving his sentence at Lusaka Remand Facility in his affidavit in support of summons for admission to bail, pending appeal filed yesterday stated that there are high prospects of his appeal succeeding because the conviction was not on firm ground.
“That I am likely to have served a substantial part of my sentence by the time the appeal is heard, if not granted bail, hence facing the risk of prejudice and the risk of my appeal being rendered nugatory and a mere academic exercise,” he said in his application.
“That I am likely to serve a prison sentence and suffer irreparable damage which cannot be atoned for in damages if the High Court allows my appeal,” he stated.
He has promised the High Court that he will provide credible sureties and attend court sessions whenever required to do so if granted bail.
Last week, Tukuta through his lawyer Ms Kasonde filed seven grounds of appeal in the Lusaka High Court stating that Mr. Justice Mwale erred in law and fact when he determined that the words he uttered, accusing Ms. Siliya of selling young girls to high profile men for sex, were defamatory in the absence of any evidence to prove that assertion.
He said the trial magistrate erred in law when he acknowledged the existence of a video that was wrongfully introduced into evidence or played in court; and that he misdirected himself by playing and considering the contents of a video wrongfully tendered into evidence outside of the court proceedings.
Tukuta argued that Mr Justice Mwale erred in law when he held that he never furnished the court with evidence to substantiate his testimony thereby moving the burden of proof from the prosecution onto him.
He said Mr. Justice Mwale erred in law and in fact by inferring guilt from his decision to remain silent in his defence.
He said the trial magistrate erred in law by sentencing him to two years imprisonment with hard labour despite the fact that he is a first offender and that there were no aggravating circumstances to warrant such a punishment.
