Malawi: A 25-year-old man from Chilombo Village has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment with hard labour after he was found cutting trees in a reserved area. The convict was arrested on April 6 in Tsamba Forest Reserve in the district.
The police force has identified the suspect as Kelvin Rodrick, a resident of the Traditional Authority Chekucheku in Neno district. The forest patrol team found the suspect cutting trees for the purpose of producing charcoal.
At this time, the suspect tried to flee by stubbing one of the patrolling officers. However, the other members of the team apprehended him.
The suspect was taken to Neno Police Station, where three charges were filed against him. Afterwards, he was presented at the First Grade Magistrate Court in Neno. The suspect, Rodrick, pleaded guilty to all three charges.
The first charge was for cutting trees in a protected area without a license, conveying into a forest with weapons and obstructing a forest officer. The State prosecutor, Alexander Boko, shared the details of the offence with the court.
He also asked the court to give Rodrick a custodial sentence for his actions to deter him from repeating the mistake. He reasoned that the convict habitually tampered with the protected forest reserve.
He used forest products to make charcoal, and even though it was his first offence, he needed to be dealt with severely. The Magistrate noted from the proceedings that the convict deliberately ignored the forest laws.
Margret Khobili believes that a custodial sentence would help protect the forest and the hardworking officers from further harm. The sentence will also help deter those with similar mindsets.
Khobili sentenced Rodrick to three years in hard labour and ordered him to pay a K410,000 fine. Out of this amount, the amount of K150,000 was compensation to the patrolling officer Bonzo.