British businessman jailed in Malawi for 45 years after brutally murdering wife

A British national has been caged for 45 years after being convicted of murdering his wife in a case that has dragged through Malawi’s courts for nearly seven years.

Mohamed Shahid Iqbal Juma was on Thursday handed the lengthy sentence by the High Court’s Criminal Division in Lilongwe, after being found guilty of killing his wife, Zaheera Jabbar Akbanie.

Akbanie, a 35-year-old mother-of-three, was discovered dead at the couple’s Area 9 home in December 2018 — a killing that shocked the local community and triggered Juma’s swift arrest.

Throughout the marathon legal battle, prosecutors laid out damning evidence from a string of witnesses, with the case led by Dzikondianthu Malunda, Director of Criminal Litigation in the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

Juma repeatedly attempted to secure his release on bail while awaiting trial — but his applications were knocked back time and again.

One bid triggered particular alarm in court, after it emerged the accused had somehow managed to obtain a brand-new British passport while languishing on remand.

After weighing evidence from both sides, presiding judge Bruno Kalemba delivered his guilty verdict, before handing down the 45-year sentence today — finally drawing a line under a case that has haunted the courts for years.