High Court judge reprimands Lusaka lawyer

Wed, 28 Sep 2016 04:52:40 +0000

LUSAKA High Court judge Sharon Newa yesterday reprimanded Lusaka lawyer Osborne Ngoma for being disrespectful to the court.

This was after Mr Ngoma, who is representing former BANC ABC customer service officer Precious Longwe, who is facing murder charges, asked the court for a 30-minute adjournment to liaise with his client during trial.

But Ms Justice Newa told Mr Ngoma that he could not ask for an adjournment to stand down the matter when he had come late for court proceedings.

It was at that point Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lillian Shawa Sinyunyi opposed the application to stand down the matter because Mr Ngoma came late to court and did not apologize.

Mr Ngoma, who became emotional, denied being disrespectful to the court, stressing that he would never be rude to the court.

He told the court that such matters were better discussed in chambers.

But the DPP insisted that Mr Ngoma was being disrespectful because he could have apologized to the court for coming late and delaying the trial.

Ms Sinyunyi said she could only allow the matter to be adjourned for 10 minutes because a 30-minute break was as good as an adjournment.

Ms Justice Newa allowed the matter to stand down for 10 minutes but during the break the DPP and Mr Ngoma continued arguing until Mr Ngoma left the courtroom and only returned after 10 minutes to continue with the matter.