Husband found guilty of strangling wife and dumping her body in maize field —  funeral alibi collapses in court

A Malawian man has been found guilty of murdering his wife after the High Court’s Criminal Division in Blantyre ruled that his alibi failed to account for the critical hours during which she is believed to have been killed.

Lucius Wilson was convicted on Friday of the murder of his wife, Cecelia Yakob, whose body was discovered in a maize field in May 2021. A post-mortem examination later confirmed she had been strangled to death.

During the trial, the court heard chilling evidence about the couple’s troubled relationship, including testimony detailing Wilson’s treatment of his wife and threats he is alleged to have made against her in the period leading up to her death.

Judges also scrutinised the circumstances of her disappearance alongside Wilson’s own movements at the time.

In his defence, Wilson claimed he had been in Lirangwe attending his brother’s funeral when the killing is believed to have taken place.

But prosecutors dismantled the alibi, arguing it failed to cover the crucial window during which Yakob was killed — leaving his whereabouts during that critical period unexplained.

After weighing the evidence and submissions from both sides, the court found Wilson guilty of murder.

The case has now been adjourned for sentencing, with both the prosecution and defence ordered to file their submissions within 21 days.

The prosecution was led by Principal State Advocate Layna Kulesi from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, while Wilson was represented by the Legal Aid Bureau.