Malawi men freed after real murder suspects confess to crime

• Judge blasts authorities as pair — hijacked at gunpoint by the REAL killers — are released after true culprits confess to horrific highway murder

Two innocent men who spent six agonising months behind bars, wrongly linked to a horrific murder they had nothing to do with, have finally walked free — after a judge tore into authorities over their prolonged and unjustified detention.

Jimmy Mukholi and Thomas Makina were ordered released with immediate effect by the High Court sitting in Dedza, bringing to an end a harrowing ordeal that began in January when they became caught up in the brutal killing of Frazer Lupiya.

The nightmare unfolded when Lupiya, travelling to Blantyre, climbed aboard a vehicle driven by Makina, with Mukholi riding as a passenger.

But the journey took a horrifying turn when the vehicle picked up three unknown passengers at Lilongwe Tank Depot.

Roughly an hour into the trip, the sinister strangers allegedly produced a firearm, launching a brutal attack that left Lupiya dead.

The armed passengers then hijacked the vehicle outright, turning their threats on Makina and Mukholi before fleeing towards Dzalanyama Forest and abandoning the car.

Rather than being treated as the traumatised victims they were, Makina and Mukholi did the right thing and reported the horrifying incident to police — only to find themselves thrown behind bars and hauled before the Magistrate’s Court in Dedza for committal proceedings.

But the case took a dramatic turn when police went on to arrest three other suspects — Barbra Mkwezalamba, Witman Elisa and Kennedy Damson — in connection with Lupiya’s murder.

All three reportedly confessed to the killing, blowing apart any case against the two men who had been sitting in custody all along.

Despite the confessions, Makina and Mukholi remained locked up, prompting the Legal Aid Bureau to step in on their behalf.

Principal Legal Aid Advocate Chikondi Kambuwa fired off an urgent letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions, demanding the case against the pair be dropped entirely and certificates of discharge issued, insisting there was simply no evidence tying them to the crime.

A police document later presented to the court confirmed what the defence had argued all along — that Makina and Mukholi were victims of the horrific incident, not perpetrators, with the three later-arrested suspects identified as the true culprits behind Lupiya’s murder.

Delivering a scathing ruling on July 29, High Court Judge Justice Kondwani Munthali didn’t hold back, declaring the pair had been held for far longer than the statutory 90-day limit, with no clarity over whether the case against them would even continue.

“This Court cannot pretend not to know the implications of the actions of the State. Where nothing implicates the Applicant, let him have his liberty to go home and join his family,” Justice Munthali ruled.

The court ultimately sided fully with Makina and Mukholi, ordering their immediate and unconditional release — finally bringing an end to a shocking ordeal that saw two innocent men punished for a crime committed by others entirely.

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