The State has amended charges against Chinese national Lu Ke also known as Susu who was formerly charged with five counts bordering on child trafficking.
The new charges include money laundering, procuring a child to perform in public and cyber security crimes.
Senior State Advocate, Sarah Mwangonde, informed Senior Resident Magistrate, James Mankhwazi, that the State has finished its investigations on the matter.
She added that the State was ready for the accused to take plea. However, she told the court that the defence was not ready to take plea.
Addressing the court, defence lawyer, Andy Kaonga, said from the discussions he remembered with the State it was clear that the State was not ready for trial.
He said he has not seen the new charge sheet and that the disclosures were presented to him while at court.
He, therefore, asked the court to order the State to provide all sets of disclosures as soon as possible considering that the accused has spent over 15 days on remand.
In his ruling, Senior Resident Magistrate Mankhwazi ordered the State to provide disclosures in the next 7 working days.
The matter has since been adjourned to 19 August 2022 for plea taking.
Reported by Thomas Psyata, MBC Online Services.
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