Kacheka & Anor. v Jastern (Civil Cause 2192 of 1994) [1995] MWHCCiv 20 (7 April 1995)

IN rm HIGH COUR1 OF MALAWI PRINCIPAL REGtSTRY CiVtL CAUSE ffO, 2192 OF 1994 MAXWE bL J . KACHEKA (MALE) ••• 11 ,1 , •• : •• • • • • • • • • • 1st Pla in tiff -and- MARGAR ET kACHEkA (FEMALE) • ..•• • i • • •• • • • • •• • • • • 2nd Pla in tiff .- _;,_ ~nd - B JAS TEnN (MALE) • • • • 1 • • 1 . 1 , 1: . : , , • • ••• •••. Defendant CORAM: R R Mzikamandat Deputy Registrar Mr Chirwa for the plaihtiffs ttuLtNG Th~ two plaintiffs ~r ~ father and mother to two de ceased yoting gir i~ aged 5 years and 3 years respectively at the time of th eir . dea th , The elder girl Was school going and wa s in st and tt r d 21 The two girls were hit by a vehicle dr ive n by the de fehd snt Ahd as a resul t they died. The two plain ti f fs now cl ttiffl fbf lo~~ of dependehcy . Oh th~ question of dependency it seem that th e cla im is bot h for l oss of dependency in r~lation to what con t r ib ution the li ttl e gi r ls m~de to the household and in relation to prospect of ru tur~ c ontribution . On the former the plaintiff 's t esified thg t th~ ~lder girl wouid draw w~ter prepare porridge an d sweep the hom~ . The younger could not cook but could sweep . For the fut ur~ th ~ ~lder girl had shoWh §igns of being inte lling ent and hav ing~ bri ght future. She Wotild probably have got a job which wou ld h~v~ provided th~ pareht~ with financial assis t anc e. Thi § c1aim is made undef Sections 3 and 7 of t he Statute Law (m i§c ~llaneous) Act Cap 5 : 04 of the Laws of Malaw i. This is a nov@1 c ~§e b~caus~ it i! ditticult to say whether inde ed there was l b~~ bf dependency h~r~ ott th~ pArt of the parents a s these we r @ v~ry young girls Who di~d , Th~y did not prov i de any fin ahc i~1 dohtribution ih ord~r tb fuAihtain the home . They were be ing tbUgh t by their p~r~nt~ ori how to cook and lo ok af ter a home. Wh ~ther wh~t th~y did during the time of le a rni ng the cho r~§ W~§ A contribiltiott ~hidh WbUld be th~ basis of de pendency of tht ~af@ ht~ hAs e~etci~ed my mind 1 case a uthor ity oh the poiht . Th~ b~~~~ cited to me as well as t he par~g r~ph in Wihfi~ld ~nd Jolbwic~ on tort se em t o ~ddre§s th~ particUl~f ~itu~tion I have here . ignor~ th@ tAbt th8t With th~ pfo~p~bt~ ot the tw~ i n fan ts who I am unable t o f ind a do not I can not .::. ~ .::. lost th~ir !iv~~ ~rowittg Up iht6 lliAtuf~ and ~ducate d persons they Woul d hAv~ provid~d th~ twd plaihtitfs with some fi nancial help , Th@f@ were r~~l pfb~p~~te of d~pertdency in f uture which wer~ le~ t Wh~ tt th@ itttattt~ lo§t th~if lives. The fi r st pl ~i tttitt d@~ cfib ~d th~ ihtaht~ ~§ hi§ gifts from God and as such w~ r~ § ~ource of cohfort Ah §~tistaction to the two pl ai tttift § ~ There Are ho figtif~~ to go by. lump ~u~ of · k12;000 to the plaihtiff~ plus costs of these proc ~~ditt~~ ., I wou ld awa rd a MAbt !rt Chambers this 1th d~y b f April , 1995 at Bl antyre. I ♦