Police investigators in the November 17 2025 murder of medical doctor Victoria Bobe at her home in Blantyre have told the court that the rifle used in the crime is yet to be recovered.
Third State witness, Police Assistant Superintendent Christopher Pangeti, told the High Court of Malawi in Blantyre yesterday that due to security concerns investigators decided against travelling to a graveyard in Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique where one of the suspects said the rifle was buried.
on Tuesday. | Nation
He said one of the accused, Rafiq Abdul Hassan, identified as a former Mozambique police officer, offered to take the investigators to Mozambique, claiming that is where he buried the rifle.
“He is an ex-police officer who worked as a senior detective and the place he was referring to is dangerous because of the insurgency [in the province]. Looking at his background, anything could have happened if we had gone there to recover the rifle,” Pangeti told the court.
The law enforcer, who was among officers who visited the crime scene in Chigumula, Blantyre on the morning of November 18 after the murder, said investigators concluded that the attackers were experienced criminals based on the evidence collected.
He told the court that investigators found a bullet hole in the bedroom door, blood and a bullet pellet behind the door and skull fragments on the bed. However, he said no spent cartridge was recovered, prompting investigators to conclude that the attackers had collected it to avoid leaving evidence.
The court also heard that investigators later focused on former convicts and arrested Hassan in BCA Township in Blantyre on December 11 2025.
Pangeti said Hassan cooperated with police and led them to arrest the other six suspects.
He further testified that Hassan confessed to participating in another robbery in which K45 million was stolen from a house in BCA. While being questioned about other offences, he allegedly mentioned the robbery at the Bobes in Chigumula Township.
Investigators also established that a security guard employed at the Bobes’ residence, who is among the seven accused, informed the group that his employer kept US dollars at home.
The court further heard that two of the accused, while on remand for Bobe’s murder, were convicted and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for robbing a filling station in Zomba.
The State also tendered a seven-minute video recorded by police when the suspects were taken to the crime scene in December, where they allegedly demonstrated how the crime was carried out. The footage showed the suspects explaining the role each played, where they stood and who entered the house.
Presiding Judge Ruth Chinangwa adjourned the case to today to allow the State to transcribe the video for the court record. She, however, turned down the State’s application for the court to visit the crime scene.
Victoria Bobe, 33, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and a lecturer at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, was shot dead on November 17 2025 in the presence of her husband, Yamikani.
