Malawi court jail dog-meat seller: Sentenced 12 months IHL
The Balaka Second Grade Magistrate court in eastern Malawi has sentenced a 31year old-man to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour (IHL) for selling dog meat.
The suspect Ishmael Jumbe was found selling dog meat to people last week, at Njerenje Trading Centre,
Police Prosecutor Constable Kester Mame told the court that the Police received a complaint that the suspect sold dog meat in a form of “mang’ina.”
“The suspect in his caution statement confessed to have bought the dog at the price of K1000.00, cooked it and sold it at Njerenje Trading Centre as mang’ina, ” said Mame.
He said the suspect was telling people who were buying it that it was goat meat and said he has been doing this [selling dog meat] since 2001 when he was at Mbayani in Blantyre.
Mame was arrested after a child to his neighbor revealed to have seen him skinning a dog at night time but when asked of what he has done with the meat; Ishmael confessed to have cooked it and sold it as mang’ina which is commonly known as “baya-baya” in his area.
In his submission before sentence, Police Prosecutor Constable Mame said dog meat is not supposed to be eaten “as per our culture and what the convict did is a taboo to the society.”
In mitigation, Ishmael asked for forgiveness saying he has a wife and three children to look after and that the people who eat the meat had already forgiven him.
Second Grade Magistrate Victor Sibu said the convict was supposed to know his responsibility before committing this crime.
He therefore gave him a maximum sentence of 12 months imprisonment with hard labour and said he has given him such a sentence so that it should be a lesson to him and would be offenders.
Ishmael Jumbe comes from Kangaude village, Traditional Authority Nkaya in Balaka.
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Some heads just have to reason:
so since chinese does this and that and you implying on us malawians huh? Think matured and be reasonable enough
chilango chachepa.
Malawians cannot afford beef and goat in these hard times of Dpp era.Akhokhori from Lomwe land eats cats?What is the matter with that?Alot have eaten kanyenya wa galu since 2001 and what has happened to them? There is nothing in our culture that says that people should not eat dogs.Ma China have longer life span than the picky Malawians.Chamiyendo four chidyedwe basi.
I’m shocked to read comments that state dog meat should be legalised. Yes, the Chinese have cruelly slaughtered dogs for their consumption for centuries, they also drink the blood of snakes!!!! Would you? It’s not in our culture to devour dog or cat.
Excessive sentence by any standard. He sold food. Selling food made from dog meat cannot be a crime.
in the first place we need to define culture. in Malawi we have cultural diversity owing to our various ethnic tribes. who defined that eating dogs is uncultural in Malawi . Are dogs human? These are animals that can be eaten by anyone otherwise choosing to eat dogs in my view not a crime. If you say he concealed the identity of the carcass perhaps that can be viewed as wrong doing but not to an extent of jailing someone. Amangwetu bwanji kodi
Crazy
So what is the name of this crime you guys in the legal profession? What does the constitution say about edible meats? Or was he arrested because he concealed the identity of the meat he was selling? This is retrogressive. you are refusing to recognize law graduates from private colleges yet you use these magistrates who know next to nothing about law. 12 months behind bars for this misdemeanor? Oh no.
@ Chimms you are right. Milandu ya osauka sichedwa kugamulidwa koma cashgate now more that two years. Point of correction Chimms, this crime was committed some 5 days ago
Malawi is failing to progress because of our mindset. Dog meat is cheaper. This is why Chinese people are rich because they spend less on food. But Malawians, they can pay 1Kg of beef at K1,600.00 yet a 20 Kg dog cost less than K5000.00. The man is a great thinker this is better than stealing.