High Court Clears Unima Student Facing Appeal

A University of Malawi student, Godfrey Chingolo, has been cleared of all charges related to the alleged sale and promotion of a drug purported to cure HIV/AIDS after both the Magistrate Court and the High Court found the prosecution’s case to be unsupported by expert evidence.

Chingolo was arrested in 2024 by Zomba Police on allegations that he was trading in a substance known as Gomora and advertising it on WhatsApp and other social media platforms as a cure for HIV/AIDS. Police confiscated his mobile phone on suspicion that it was being used to promote the drug.

Following his arrest, Chingolo was charged with five counts before the Senior Resident Magistrate Court. The charges included selling medicines with misleading information, making false or misleading statements in connection with any medicine, obtaining money by false pretences, conspiracy to defraud, and advertising medicines without approval, all allegedly committed between January and May 2024.

During trial, the State called only one witness, who testified that Chingolo operated WhatsApp forums where he allegedly advertised Gomora as a cure for HIV/AIDS. The witness tendered a smartphone, screenshots of WhatsApp conversations, and a parcel containing drugs allegedly collected by the accused from a courier service.

However, under cross-examination, the witness conceded that he was not a medical expert, could not identify the nature of the drug presented in court, and was unaware whether the substance cured HIV/AIDS or whether HIV/AIDS has no cure. He further confirmed that samples of the alleged drug had been sent for analysis, but results were not available at the time of trial.

In submissions on whether there was a case to answer, the Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) argued that the State had failed to prove that the substance tendered was indeed Gomora or that it did not cure HIV/AIDS. LAB further submitted that expert medical evidence was essential for the court to make such determinations.

The Senior Resident Magistrate Court found that the prosecution had failed to establish key elements of the offences, describing the case as incomplete due to the absence of expert testimony. The court consequently found that Chingolo had no case to answer and acquitted him on all five counts.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, the State appealed to the High Court in Zomba, arguing that the Magistrate Court erred in law by failing to find a case to answer, particularly by not taking judicial notice of the fact that HIV/AIDS has no cure.

The appeal was heard by Justice D.H. Sankhulani, who, in a 21-page judgment, dismissed the appeal in its entirety. The High Court upheld the lower court’s decision, agreeing with LAB that there was no legal basis, on the record before the court, to take judicial notice that HIV/AIDS has no cure without expert evidence.

Justice Sankhulani held that, in the absence of medical testimony, the prosecution had failed to establish the essential elements of the offences, emphasizing that courts cannot substitute evidence with assumptions.

Chingolo was represented by Principal Legal Aid Advocate Hanleck Ching’anda, Senior Legal Aid Advocate Arius Chagunda, and Legal Aid Officer Tiyamike Kamtukule.