THE CASE OF MR. MUTTI SIR,—I was glad to see
that you made reference to the case of Mr. Jethro Mutti in your issue of February 23. There is one point in your article however which fails to do full justice to the serious nature of his case. You refer to the heating inflicted on Mr. Mutti as an 'allegation'; it is more than this. Mr. Mutti sustained a fractured eardrum as a result of this brutality and medical evidence to this effect was produced in court. Your report also omits to mention that the brutality against Mr. Multi and a number of his friends took place inside a charge-room of the Lusaka police station. This strengthens your call for an investigation into police conduct. It should further be noted that after he had been beaten up Mr. Mutti was released and no charge was preferred against him. Your readers may rest assured that had any case for the slightest charge existed it would have been proceeded with quite vigorously.
It will occur to some of your readers that possibly there arc circumstances about the case which have not been disclosed and which might, if they were known, present the authorities in a more favourable light. It is noteworthy, therefore, that the counsel who defended the police (a Mr. Cunningham) when Mr. Mutti brought his action against them, strongly advised against the subsequent prosecution of Mr. Mutti for perjury and strongly protested against the sentence he received.
This case would be disgraceful enough if it were unique but, from many reports emanating from Northern Rhodesia it would appear that in police dealings with the African people this type of conduct is all too frequent.
JOHN PAPWORTH 22 Nevem Road, Earl's Court, SW 5
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