The Big-Bend Magistrate’s Court was over the past week grounded due to the unavailability of court clerks.
All pending cases which were set to appear before the court last week were postponed indefinitely.
The Big-Bend Magistrate’s Court has all along been operating with two magistrates and one court clerk who doubles as an interpreter.
This has been the case from the time it was referred to as a circuit court until it was recently upgraded to a fully-fledged Magistrate’s Court.
Having only one court clerk has always been cited by other officials as an anomaly and something which delayed processes.
According to impeccable sources who spoke to this publication, the only available court clerk took her annual leave last Monday, leaving the court literally grounded.
Fresh cases which were scheduled to appear before the court had to be taken to Siteki Magistrate’s Court.
These included a case of a 26-year-old man of Gamula who allegedly killed a 62-year-old man after they had an argument at an informal drinking spot. The accused made a remand appearance before the Siteki Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, more cases which were set to appear before Big-Bend court had to be pushed to a later date after the clerk’s office was found locked, with nobody to direct proceedings of the court.
According to a source close to the matter, lawyers from Mabila Attorneys were amongst officials who were left stranded at the court after finding offices locked.
“The Big-Bend court is literally closed, maybe until the clerk who is on leave returns after completing the mandatory leave period,” said a source within the court.
Other suspects who are out on bail pending the commencement of their trial also vented their frustration to this publication.
“I was eventually attended by a police officer who informed me that there were no proceedings on the day after I had stayed there for more than two hours,” said a man who has a civil case pending at the Big-Bend court.
Efforts to get a comment from the High Court registrar proved unsuccessful.
