Senior Resident Magistrate Bracious Kondowe has sentenced Chifundo Mwaya to 18 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for robbery after he pleaded guilty to stealing items worth about K3.7 million from Area 43 Charismatic Church. But what emerged in court went far beyond theft—laying bare a chilling chain of violence that has shaken both the faith community and the nation.
Senior Resident Magistrate Bracious Kondowe
The court heard that on the night of March 27–28, Mwaya, a security guard employed by Safeguard Security Services and tasked with protecting the premises, turned on his fellow guards. Armed with a concrete block and metal tools, he broke into the church. Outside, guards Fadwick Lackson and Frank Ndenguma were attacked in succession, each struck on the head in what the court described as a calculated and merciless assault. Both later died from their injuries.
In a rare departure from the bench’s typically restrained tone, Magistrate Kondowe—himself a man of faith—laid bare the moral gravity of the crime.
“A man entrusted with protection and safety… turned guardian into predator, protector into destroyer,” he wrote. “Each strike and each breach was an assault not only on the structure but on faith itself.”
After the killings, Mwaya looted the church, taking instruments used in worship, including a Yamaha keyboard, an amplifier, and cables—items the court said were “meant to channel prayer, music and devotion,” but were instead reduced to “trophies of crime.”
“A place consecrated for worship, reflection and safety was instead transformed into a scene of violence,” Kondowe added, capturing the depth of violation felt by the congregation and the wider public.
Despite the disturbing facts, the magistrate’s court could only convict on robbery, as it has no jurisdiction over murder. The 18-year sentence, while significant, is only the beginning of a much heavier legal reckoning.
A legal analyst put it starkly: “This is an appetizer. The main case awaits at the High Court. Two lives were taken in gruesome fashion—and that carries the heaviest consequences under Malawian law.”
Mwaya is expected to be committed to the High Court, where he will face double murder charges that could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Magistrate Kondowe also delivered a pointed warning to would-be offenders:
“When people of previous good behaviour decide to enter the world of crime in grand style, they should not be surprised when they are met with the full force of the law.”
As Mwaya, 33, begins serving his 18-year sentence, the country is left grappling with the brutality of the crime—finding partial closure in the conviction, but ultimately looking to the High Court, where justice for the two lives lost will be fully tested.
