Malawi Police arrest 16-year-old assailants
Malawi police last Saturday arrested five people- three men and two women- on suspicion that they ruthlessly murdered a teenage trader in Phalombe District.
The five suspects, among them, two 63-year-olds, beheaded Patrick Bikisani, a 16-year-old pork vendor, on or around July 29.
Phalombe Police identified the five suspected assailants as Lucy Abraham (Miss), 22, Dinson Kokoma, 39, and 19-year-old Lucius Nasiyaya.
The 63-year-olds are Tenson Mulonda and Magret Masedena (Mrs).
All the five suspects come from Phulanya Village in Traditional Authority Nkanda in Mulanje District and according to police, their motive for killing the teenager is yet to be established.
The deceased, whose body was discovered on August 1 with his head completely chopped off and his body partly burnt, hailed from Walosa village also in T/A Nkanda in the district.
Phalombe Police Spokesperson Augustine Nkhwazi said the five suspects were arrested following a tip from community members and would all appear in court once investigations are through to answer a murder charge which is contrary to section 209 of Penal Code.
“After 25 days of investigation police, following a tip from the public, managed to arrest the five suspects,” Nkhwazi said.
Police have since applauded members of the community for providing them with information that has led to the arrest of the suspects.
Crackdown
Menawhile, National police spokesman Davie Chingwalu told VOA that the police have stepped up efforts to prevent violent criminals from undermining the stability of the country.
“I can admit that two months ago there was some sort of violent crime in cases like murder and armed robbery,” Chingwalu said. “But, we strategized and increased the police presence and intensified our investigations.”
“The crime has gone down because we have managed to arrest dangerous criminals,” he said. “We have even confiscated some firearms, which these robbers were using.”
Even so, some Malawians say they are experiencing an increase in armed robberies since President Joyce Banda’s new administration reversed the shoot-to-kill policy for police. Banda and human rights groups said the policy violated the rights of suspects and the legal premise of innocent until proven guilty.
The policy allowed police to shoot-to-kill suspects caught in the commissionof a crime.
But, police spokesman Chingwalu denied the reversal of the shoot-to-kill policy is to blame for the violent crimes.
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