Family seeks justice over stadium fatal shooting

The family of a 19-year-old casual worker shot dead at the construction site of a new stadium in Lilongwe last week has demanded an investigation into the incident amid allegations of disproportional use of force.

While the family and fellow workers claim the deceased, Lemekazeni Sunsu, was going to work as normal when he was gunned down during the early hours of Wednesday, the stadium site management and police say the deceased was shot down during an attempted theft.

The stadium site management has for a long time complained of rampant cases of theft at the site allegedly perpetrated by surrounding communities and some of its local staff.

But the family of the deceased claims the gunshot wounds that indicate the bullet penetrated the victim’s chest three times “as a sign of intent to murder not to injure”.

“He was shot three times in the chest, it pierced his heart. It was clear intention to kill. We now want the truth. We will not stop as a family, we will dig the truth; we need the truth,” said the deceased’s mother, Miriam Mkwichi.

Speaking from her house in the shanty Lilongwe settlement of Phwetekere, a sombre-faced Mkwichi quashed suggestions that her son, one of the three who work at the stadium site, was possibly a suspected thief.

“He was a quiet boy who always came home early. He was ambitious and was already taking care of the family. He was about to turn 20 on 26th February, but even his grandparents in the village were already depending on him for support,” said Mkwichi as tears rolled down her chicks and sobs interrupted her statements.

She called on authorities to investigate the incident, saying the family is not convinced with the official version of what happened.

“All his colleagues say is that it was around 5am when he was shot, yet police say it was 2am. The colleagues say he was in company of other workers and was supposed to start work at 5am and police claim he was alone.

“He was missing for a whole day and we had to find out ourselves after searching for him, fearing he had gone missing only to be told by police he had been shot at. His own brothers work at the same place and they were not aware that he was shot dead. Why was the incident kept a secret?” asked the mother.

Lilongwe Police Station publicist Kingsley Dandaula disputed the version of events of the family and other stadium workers, saying the incident happened at 2 am during an attempted robbery.

“As you are aware, there have been several cases of theft at the site and as police, we have recovered several metal bars which people have been stealing from the stadium. Five people were attempting to steal from the site when police started chasing them, three people wanted to attack the officer, so in self-defence he shot at one of them,” said Dandaula.

He said a post-mortem indicated that Sunsu died due to internal bleeding but Dandaula dismissed claims that the police killed the employee in cold blood, alleging that the victim alongside suspects attacked the officer.

Stadium site manager only identified as Mr. Chen on Thursday said the shooting happened during a theft attempt and refused to comment further on the matter.

“That is a law enforcement matter. He was our employee, but that happened during a crime, so ask police, we have no comment,” said Chen.

The deceased came from Mgundadzuwa Village, Traditional Authority Kaphuka in Dedza.