Robbery at National Bank of Malawi: 8 answering charges
Court hearing for nine people suspected of robbing National Bank Crossroads branch in June last year in Lilongwe continues at Lilongwe Magistrate Court.
The suspects Pililani Fuleza 27, Lustiko Chifomboti 28, Idi Mmadi 35, Masauso Kaluwa 30, Charles Maliro 30, Paul Ganeti 46 Charles Kamaunda and Frank Lemu 26, appeared before Chief resident magistrate Ruth Chinangwa at Lilongwe magistrate court Thursday where the defence paraded three witnesses.
However, one of the suspects Davie Mangala 27, absconded bail and was not among the eight people under trial.
It is alleged that on 21 June 2012 the nine suspects stormed into National Bank Crossroads branch shortly after the banking hours where they robbed two cashiers of K27 million using threats of violence.
All the eight accused have pleaded not guilty to the charges laid against them and the defence paraded three witnesses.
According to one of the witnesses Charity Mmadi, wife to Idi Mmadi, her husband was not among the people who committed the crime since they were together for the whole day.
“On the said date, I accompanied my husband to a funeral where we spent the night together, it is not true that he was with the suspects since we were together the whole day, we even slept in the same bed at the funeral,” she said.
One of the accused persons Masaustso Kaluwa alleged that the police tortured him and made him sign for a statement that he did not give.
“The day I was arrested, the police took me to the station where they asked me some questions then took me to my home in area 23 where they demanded that I produce money but I did not since I had none,” he said.
He alleged that the police beat him up and destroyed some of his property like sofa set in the course of their investigation before clearing his house of some his most valuable belongings.
“They later took me to area 3 Police where they beat me into signing a statement that I did not give because they claimed it was needed urgently,” he added.
All the eight suspects are on bail.
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