Cop tells court police officers assaulted Lule

A police officer has told the High Court in Lilongwe that a team of officers from Central Region Police Headquarters assaulted Buleya Lule, a suspect who died in police custody, with pangas and other objects.

The witness, Detective Sub Inspector Innocenet Kasambara, made the disclosure yesterday when the High Court started hearing the case in which 13 police officers are accused of having a hand in the murder of Lule, who was a suspect in the abduction of a boy with albinism from Dedza.

The witness, who at the time of the incident was a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer at Chitsime Police Unit in Dedza where Lule was assaulted, said he witnessed the torture that Lule was subjected to.

He said a team of CID officers from Central Region Police Headquarters went to his office at the police unit with three suspects, including Lule.

Kasambara said the officers asked Lule about the abduction of a boy with albinism, but he denied involvement.

The witness further told the court that the other two suspects in the abduction of the boy with albinism insisted that Lule was behind the scheme and that he was the one keeping the boy.

The witness said Lule kept denying any involvement.

Said Kasambara: “They were beating him all over the body. He was forced to lie down and was beaten several times using pangas.”

He added that the officers undressed Lule in the course of assaulting him.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Stan Chaima also testified and told the court that he also interviewed Lule while serving as the director of CID.

He said that during the interview, Lule looked worried.

Lule was arrested in connection with the abduction of a boy with albinism in Dedza in 2019.

An autopsy showed that Lule was murdered and those behind the murder used objects to assault him.