‘Abducted’ Liwonde girl out of hospital

Faith Kasiya, a Form Four girl at a private school in Liwonde, Machinga, suspected to have been kidnapped last week, has been discharged from Mlale Mission Hospital in Lilongwe.

Mlale Mission Hospital sister-in-charge, Sister Mini Thomas, said in an interview on Friday that the hospital had discharged Faith at the request of her parents/guardians.

She said that since her admission to the hospital, people were flocking there just to see her.

Said Thomas: “Apparently, the family did not feel happy about it. So, this morning [Friday], the [girl’s] mother requested that she be discharged.”

But the sister-in-charge assured that Faith was enjoying good health and that she was not showing strange signs; hence, the decision to grant the discharge request.

Faith was allegedly abducted last week on her return to school from a mid-term holiday.

Her reported missing led to running battles between the police, the community and students who set ablaze the house of a wealthy herbalist suspected to have kidnapped the 21-year-old Mawira Private Secondary School student.

At least 32 people were arrested in connection with the violence that erupted Monday evening through Tuesday following the missing of the girl.

She was later found at Mitundu in Lilongwe from where her parents took her to Mlale Mission Hospital for medical check-up.

The Nation traced Faith to her parents’ house, about four kilometres from the hospital.

However, Faith’s mother, Stella Kasiya, pleaded with The Nation not to interview her “because doctors have recommended that she should stay away from noise and must avoid talking to strange people”.

Faith had gone missing on March 7 2017, and she was reportedly sending text messages to her friends narrating her ordeal.

In the text messages, she is said to have alleged that she was about to be killed and that she was subjected to torture.

School head teacher Lawrence Samson alleged that the girl was abducted by a bicycle taxi operator who instead of taking her to school handed her to kidnappers who bundled her into a waiting car.

Speaking in a telephone interview from his undisclosed hiding place after the angry people bayed for his life, herbalist Victor Mtuwa said he did not understand why he was being targeted.

He said property worth over K80 million, including the house, had been lost in the violence.

“But I will not take this lying down. I have worked hard as an African doctor to accumulate this wealth and there is no way I can just let it go that way. I am seeking advice from my legal counsel,” said Mtuwa of Mkumba Village, T/A Bwana Nyambiin  Mangochi.

The herbalist said he plies his Mikundi Herbalist business in South Africa and only comes to Malawi to get the necessary stuff, adding that he registered his business with the Registrar General in 1996.