Albino ‘killer’ gets life imprisonment
Samson Kaumba has become the first convict to be slapped with life imprisonment in relation to a horrible spate of discriminatory attacks and ritual killings which has left people with albinism at the risk of extinction in Malawi.
Judge Dingiswayo Madise ordered Kaumba, 33, to spend the rest of his life in prison with no opportunity for pardon when the convict appeared in the High Court in Mzuzu today.
The landmark ruling marks the conclusion of a case in which Kaumba and Fiskani Mtambo stood accused of coaxing Morton Juma, 11, into a bush where they hacked him on the neck and left biceps in a shocking episode of the infamous killings in September last year.
The court acquitted Mtambo because the state did not prove his involvement beyond reasonable doubt, but senior chief state advocate Dzikondianthu Malunda embraced the sentence meted out on Kaumba as a cause for celebration as the country grapples to clampdown on the killings.
“Justice has won,” Malunda told reporters outside the court.
However, there was double victory for Morton who dropped out of school due to the prevailing climate of fear as the judge announced that Mzuzu Academy had offered him scholarship to continue his education at the prestigious institution on the northeastern margins of Mzuzu.
In his reasoning, the state lawyer said attempted murder is no different from cold-blood murder as both are fuelled with the intention to kill and the victim did not survive by the mercy of his assailants but by chance and divine intervention.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Chimwemwe Chithope described the convict as a first offender, youthful, sickly and deserving of mercy, saying the offence was “a mere attempt”.
He asked the court to treat the attempted murder of persons with albinism like any other based on the principal of equality before the law.
The judge overruled the calls for a lesser sentence but rhetorically nodded to the legal myth that maximum sentences are reserved for worst offenders.
“Today I have that worst offender before me,” said the judge as he admonished the convict and his unknown accomplices for setting out to kill Morton like a chicken or goat.
“Albino killer gets life sentence”
The headline is very misleading, and buggers the readers mind as they start to read the article. The convict appears to have only attempted to murder the albino boy.
The sentence is excessive (life without parole) and will be reduced if an appeal is made to the Supreme Court.
The headline is not misleading as can be seen from the quotes; meaning that the meaning is not the actual meaning of the word.
I conquer however with you on the severity of the sentence. I haven’t read the judgment but from the little facts I know attempted murder doesn’t deserve life imprisonment.
I wrote the headline exactly as it appeared when I posted my comment. The quotes were put in AFTER I made my comment. Look at the URL for this article; there are no quotes around the word killer.
Hoping you will be the one to support him to appeal yea?
I am not sure this punishment is harsh enough! He got off lightly. This barbarian should have been lynched!
Kudos to Dingi. I am beginning to like this guy. He’s sending out precisely the message we want sent out on behalf of our albino brothers and sisters.
Do our judges use the law or emotions when passing judgements. Kungomva kuti nkhaniyi yabeba basi they stop using the law – shame. A woman cut the husband’s genital and there is no publicity of the case – attempted murder, of course – and she gets 3 years, maJudge a pa Malawi
Youre pathetic Phirilakula whether the judge used emotions or not we dont care that evil man is locked up thats what matters
Think if this albino was your child. Stupid!
Imagine if this child was you. Mxiiii.