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Dougherty Quinn lawyer's mission to Malawi
IT'S the third poorest country in the world – blighted by poverty, AIDS and malaria and with a legal system which still has the death penalty.
A four-month work placement in the Malawi promises to be a challenging experience for recently-qualified Manx lawyer Margaret Dudgeon.
'It's going to be a bit of a culture shock,' admits Margaret, 25, who was appointed an associate advocate with Douglas law firm Dougherty Quinn after being called to the Manx Bar in October last year.
Manx-born Margaret, of Ramsey, is no stranger to Africa, falling in love with the continent and its people during a tour of Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa last year during which she even bungee jumped off the Victoria Falls.
'I love Africa – it's fascinating. The people are fab.'
Of her mission to Malawi, she says: 'It will be a very humbling experience. I will be doing something that will help people.'
She will be working in the courts of Malawi's capital Lilongwe where she will get first hand experience of a legal system where the death penalty is still on the statute book, even if it is no longer carried out, and where jury trials have been abolished.
The idea for her African adventure came about following a chat with her human rights lecturer at Lancaster University where she studied law.
'I told her I was interested in travelling and she gave me a contact at the Centre for Capital Punishment Studies, based at Westminster University, which is aproject that aims to push for countries worldwide to replace capital punishment with more human alternatives.'
Ironically, the Isle of Man only gave up the death penalty itself in 1993 – long after it was abolished in the UK, although death sentences had for decades before been commuted to life.
Margaret says that in Malawi people can languish in prison for years awaiting trial and if they are convicted of a capital crime, they are thrown into a tiny cell in death row, most unaware that executions are no longer carried out and assuming they will die.
She admits the experience of seeing this life and death scenario played out in the courts could be a chilling one.
'I want to thank Freshfields Solicitors in London for sponsoring me, the Young Citizen's Trust in the Isle of Man and also Dougherty Quinn for allowing me to go,' she said.
Margaret had to delay her flight out to Malawi while she awaited the conclusion of Trevor Baines fraud trial in which she was instructed to represent both Mr and Mrs Baines.
She intends to recount her experiences in Africa on a blogsite which she will update each week together with video footage. You can read accounts at http://ccpsmalawi.blogspot.com
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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