Granny ‘witch’ gets mob justice: Malawi Police arrest five

An angry mob in Blantyre stoned to death a 73-year-old woman  for allegedly being a ‘witch’.

The incident happened Tuesday and meanwhile police have arrested five people in connection to the incident.

 Blantyre police assistant Public Relations Officer, Andrew Mayawo identified the deceased as Esmy Andrew Khanawe of Mbala village, T/A Somba.

 “On Monday (12th December) Khanawe’s grandchild Nyamazao Mlangali died without any illness, prompting some villagers to speculate that it was the granny who killed her through witchcraft,” explained Mayawo.

 And on Tuesday 13th December some irate villagers attacked Khanawe and stoned her to death.

  Medical postmortem revealed that Khanawe died due to brain damage while her grandchild it was natural death.

 “Investigations are underway to arrest more suspect and unearth more information about the incident,” added Mayawo.

 Belief in witchcraft runs deep in the conservative southern African country.

Malawi does not recognize witchcraft and those found accusing others of such are penalized the court of law.

George Thindwa, who heads the Association of Secular Humanism (ASH),  argues that witchraft does not exist and challenges anyone to bewitch him to get a bounty of millions from him.