Dedza boy abduction: 4 found with case to answer
The High Court sitting in Dedza on Wednesday found four suspects linked to the missing of a boy with albinism in the district with a case to answer.
The boy, Goodson Makanjira, 14, from Makanjira in Dedza, was abducted on February 13 2019.
The court, however, acquitted the fifth suspect, Wisikesi Gama, 58.
Those found with a case to answer and are expected to make their defence in court are Kumbilani Patson, 51, Sainani Kalekeni, 44, Lukas Kagomo, 36 and Katiyo Mizeck, 42.
Another suspect, Buleya Lule, 44, died in mysterious circumstances while in police custody awaiting trial.
In a telephone interview after the ruling, senior State advocate Pilirani Masanjala said the court has adjourned to July18 and 19 when the four are expected to start defending themselves.
He said: “The ruling is in accordance with evidence, facts and law. In the present matter, the court, having found four of the accused with a case to answer is in accordance with the evidence that was presented by the State and the law applicable.”
Efforts to talk to a Legal Aid Bureau lawyer representing the suspects proved futile as the phone went unanswered.
In an earlier hearing, one of the suspects, Patson, who is a stepfather to the teenage boy, pleaded guilty to the boy’s abduction.
He said he was duped by a man who offered him K800 000 for his step son.
He said: “I am guilty of the abduction. I did it because I was tricked that there was money.”
Buleya pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied accusations by Patson that he knew the market of persons with albinism and that they gave him the boy alive.
A forensic autopsy report issued by an independent pathologist Charles Dzamalala in April showed that Buleya died from electrocution.
This is in contrast to an earlier autopsy commissioned by Malawi Police Service (MPS) which claimed Lule had died of natural causes.
