Women Lawyers Association of Malawi says it is waiting to hear from the High Court Registrar as to when the assessment on the compensation for women and girls who were sexually assaulted by police officers in Msundwe, Mpingu and M’bwatalika in Lilongwe will commence.

On August 13 this year, High Court Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda ordered that that the victims, who met their fate in October, 2019, be compensated by government for all the pain and trauma they suffered.

Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda also ruled that an assessment of how much they should be compensated should be done by the office of the Registrar of High Court, within 21 days from the day of judgement.

Almost one week after the judgment, MLS spokesperson, Mphatso Iphani told YFM online that they are yet to receive a communication from High Court Registrar on the date as to when the assessment will be carried out.

Iphani said: “The assessment hasn’t been done yet but since it is supposed to be carried out within 21 days from the day the judgement was passed, then we expect it to be done within those 21 days.”

When asked to comment on the matter, High Court Registrar, Agnes Patemba, confirmed that the assessment has not yet started.

She however said her office will communicate to MLS when the dates for the assessment are set.

Apart from giving the compensation to the victims, the court also ordered that the Police must investigate the case and submit a report to the court within 30 days from the judgment day.

In its report, the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) said it established that police officers raped 13 women, defiled one girl and sexually-assaulted three under-18 girls.