3 testify in Chanthunya girl friend murder case

Three people have testified in the Masozi Chanthunya case in which he is accused  of murdering his girlfriend Linda Gasa in 2010.

The witnesses were paraded after the court dismissed an application from Chanthunya’s lawyer who wanted the court to suspend hearing until an appeal is heard in the Supreme Court that the matter be heard before a Constitutional Court.

The first witness, Chikumbutso M’bwana said he was contracted by Chanthunya to dig a pit up a hill near a lodge in Monkey Bay owned by the murder suspect.

The witness said when he asked Chanthunya what the pit was for, the murder suspect just said he wanted to fill it with quarry.

M’bwana said the plan did not materialise because the place was too rocky and hard.

Another witness, a former waitress at Chanthunya’s lodge in Monkey Bay, Major Madondolo said the murder suspect came with the girl friend at the lodge but later the two left the lodge for unknown destination.

He said later, Chanthunya came back driving alone to the lodge.

The witness said at 10pm, Chanthunya sent him to buy drinks but the watchman told Chanthunya that all shops were closed but the murder suspect insisted that he should go and check.

Hearing of the case continues.

Chanthunya was granted bail in February 2019 with a K5 million bail bond by a Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal decision after spending seven years in custody in South Africa.

He was arrested by International Police (Interpol) in South Africa’s town of Rustenburg in 2012 after spending two years as a fugitive following the alleged murder of Gasa, a Zimbabwean national. Late Gasa’s body was found buried under Chanthunya’s family private cottage in Monkey Bay.