Woman brutally murdered, breasts chopped: Malawi Police arrest 3
Malawi Police in Phalombe district have arrested three people suspected to have brutally killed a 28-year-old woman and chopped off her breasts.
The victim, Jennipher Namusiyo of Gwembere village, T/A Mkhumba in the district was attacked and killed in the wee hours of Saturday morning while on her way to seek medication from a traditional healer in a nearby village.
Police have since arrested husband to deceased James Namusiyo, 30, Piason Damson 63-year-old and Mabvuto Mukohowa on murder charges contrary to Section 209 of Penal Code.
“She left her home around 2:00am of Saturday April 30th to seek medication from a traditional healer in the nearby village. Later around 10:00am her body was discovered by passersby in a semi-bushy area in Mwambeni village,” explained Phalombe police Public Relations Officer, Gresham Ngwira.
A visit to the scene by the police discovered that deceased had multiple stab-wounds in the abdomen, on the elbow of the right arm and in the back.
“Her eyes had been deflated and both her breasts removed probably by a sharp object. Her bicycle lay close to her body”.
Postmortem results at Mkhwayi Health centre indicated death was as a result of accumulation of blood in the Peritoneum due to multiple stab-wounds in the abdomen.
Motive behind this brutal attack is yet to be established. Police have since instituted investigations into the matter.
Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jappie Mhango has insisted that government is doing all it can to protect citizens including people with albinism in the country.
“We will tighten security,” said Mhango, adding “government is currently running various programmes to sensitise the public to the evils of killing people with albinism.”
Death sentence
Meanwhile, commentators are calling for death sentence penalty for all convicts involved in killing people with albinism in the country.
“I am strongly advocating for use of death penalty, which is already in our laws, for people murdering our brothers and sisters with albinism,” Stanley Onjezani Kenani, a Malawian social commentator and poet said.
Economist Association of Malawi president and motivational speaker, Henry Kachaje took to Facebook that death penalty should be executed on those convicted on albino murderers to deter others.
Despite having death sentence in the laws, the country has not carried executions since 1994.
The country is struggling to curb a wave of violence against people with albinism – a condition that affects the production of skin pigment.
Witchdoctors say potions made from albino body parts can bring good luck and wealth.
The international community has sicne condemned the Malawi Government for failing to protect people with albinism, with both the United Nations and the human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI), giving damming verdicts on the country’s systematic failures to protect the minority group.–Additional reporting by Green Muheya, Nyasa Times
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