Court of Appeal of Zambia - 2019 June

8 judgments
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Results. 8 judgments found.

8 judgments
June 2019
Appellants' trafficking convictions set aside because prosecution failed to prove means and exploitative purpose beyond reasonable doubt.
  • Criminal law — Trafficking in persons — Elements: recruit/transport/transfer/harbour/receive; necessity to prove prohibited means (force, coercion, abduction, fraud, etc.) and exploitative purpose — Admissibility of confession evidence: trial court must ask accused if defence objects (Hamfuti) — Contextual consideration of refugee flight — Conviction unsafe where essential ingredients not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
28 June 2019
Applicant failed to show a prima facie case that the Minister's refusal of medical cannabis licences was unlawful.
  • Administrative law — judicial review — licensing of controlled drugs — wide ministerial discretion under Dangerous Drugs Act s22 — Medicines and Allied Substances Act (ZAMRA) — natural justice and right to be heard for new licence applicants — locus/standing — certiorari/prohibition.
28 June 2019
Appellant had no enforceable contract to purchase land; no cause of action arose and the appeal is dismissed with costs.
  • Contract law — intention to create legal relations; correspondence as lease pending valuation does not automatically create a binding contract for sale — Real property — sale of land requires written memorandum — Limitation — time runs from accrual of cause of action; where no cause of action exists limitation does not arise.
27 June 2019
Whether service at the respondent's embassy breached diplomatic inviolability and whether the respondent waived immunity to suit.
  • Diplomatic immunities — inviolability of mission — service of process at embassy — state immunity — restrictive theory (jure gestionis) — waiver/consent to jurisdiction — leave for service out of jurisdiction.
27 June 2019
Appeal allowed: maintenance variation, costs and transfer allowed; custody maintained pending future review; each party bears own costs.
  • Family law — Variation of maintenance: change of circumstances and Rule 75(1); Evidence: need for supporting proof for adverse income findings; Custody — welfare paramount; Costs — court's discretion to order parties to bear own costs; Transfer of proceedings — s23(1) High Court Act.
26 June 2019
Appeal allowed: maintenance variation and transfer issues accepted; custody order upheld; parties to bear own costs.
  • Matrimonial Causes — variation of maintenance — changed financial circumstances; disclosure of income — evidence required; custody — welfare of the child paramount; transfer of proceedings; costs — discretionary award set aside.
26 June 2019
Circumstantial evidence, an excluded confession, and unintroduced statements rendered the murder conviction unsafe; appellant acquitted.
  • Criminal law — Circumstantial evidence — ‘Odd coincidences’ must be cogent enough that guilt is the only reasonable inference; Confession — improperly obtained/under duress — exclusion permissible; Evidence — prior statements and depositions not properly introduced cannot be relied upon on appeal; Forensic ballistic evidence — inconclusive linkage insufficient to prove firearm discharged by accused.
26 June 2019
The Court refused to admit fresh evidence on appeal where it could have been obtained with reasonable diligence, upholding finality.
  • Appeal — Fresh evidence on appeal — Ladd v Marshall criteria — Court of Appeal Act s24(1)(b)(i) — Caveat on title — Finality in litigation — Admission of post-trial documents.
12 June 2019