Phalombe First Grade Magistrate Court has accused the Malawi Police Service of using delaying tactics in concluding criminal cases.

First Grade Magistrate Damson Banda said this when he was adjourning a defilement case involving businessman Peter Ruo, 41, due to police failure to summon the suspect to appear before court.

“It was surprising that despite the court notifying the police on the day of the case two weeks earlier, the police failed to bring both their witnesses and the suspect to court for the proceedings of the case.

Magistrate Banda said this is affecting justice delivery in the case.

The defilement case has stalled for two years and the blame game between the police and the court has been an order of the day.

The suspect has been on court bail for the past two years and since then the case has never been back in court.

While the court blames the police for delaying the case, the police has pushed the blame back to court saying the suspect was released on court bail and there is nothing police can do.

Ruo is also suspected to have broken one of his bail bonds by interfering with the victim when he gave money to victim’s mother to convince the victim to twist her statements should the case goes back to court.