Police in Balaka District have arrested two brothers in connection with the assault of a nine-year-old girl for allegedly stealing K2 000 from her mother.
The arrest of—Ishmael Chitete, 20, and Zuberi Chitete, 18— brings the number of suspects to three after the arrest of the girl’s mother, Lilian Matako, on Saturday.
B a l aka Pol i ce S tat ion spokesperson Gladson M’bumpha in an interview yesterday said that on June 28 2024 at around 2pm the girl’s mother left her home for Balaka Town where she was doing business, leaving the child home.
He said the woman left her purse with a K2 000 bank-note in itin her bedroom, but did not find it on return.
Said M’bumpha: “We have established that when the woman asked her daughter, she confessed having taken the money. The mother got furious and tied the girl’s hands and legs to a tree with her body suspended in the air.
“She then severely assaulted her together with some neighbours and poured water mixed with buffalo beans [chitedze] on her body.”
He said Matako was arrested the same day after the girl’s uncle reported the matter to the police and the next day, police raided the home of the two brothers and arrested them.
In a video clip making rounds on social media, the girl is seen suspended in a tree, crying for help while some voices in the background are overheard calling her a thief.
Reacting to the incident, child rights activist Memory Chisenga described it as a gross violation of child rights and failure to provide guidance and good parenting to a child.
“Nowhere in the world is it allowed to give physical punishment to a child, it should never have happened neither should it be allowed to happen again. Children have the right to life and protection,” she said.
The suspects come from Kunyumbaka Village, Traditional Authority Sawali in Balaka. They are expected to appear in court to answer charges of acts intended to cause grievous harm contrary to Section 235(b) of the Penal Code.
