High Court to sentence murder convict Annie Mumba Thursday
The High Court in Lilongwe is set to deliver the sentence tomorrow, Thursday, for Annie Debre Mumba, who was convicted in June of murdering her husband professor Peter Mumba in April 2020.
The sentencing, initially scheduled for July 25, 2024, was postponed twice, with the latest date set for Wednesday, 30th October 2024.
In an interview, director of criminal litigation from Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Dziko Malunda said the court has yet to communicate the reason for the delays.
The convict was found guilty of unlawfully causing the death of her husband between April 24 and 25, 2020, at their home in Area 38, Lilongwe. The court determined that she acted with malice aforethought.
In his earlier ruling, Judge Mzonde Mvula said that evidence suggested the widow deliberately delayed seeking medical assistance for her sick husband.
Reads the ruling in part: “A toxicology report indicated the presence of a poisonous substance in the specimen. However, the chemical could not be identified as it did not match any known standards in the laboratory. The cause of death was determined to be ‘acute poisoning with a chemical compound,’ an unnatural cause.”
According to the court, Professor Mumba died two hours before being taken to the hospital. Postmortem results, requested by concerned family members, confirmed that he died from acute poisoning.
The court also noted that Mumba’s previous husband, Yotamu Manda, died suddenly in 1999. This history suggested that Mumba should have been aware of the urgency required in seeking medical help.
Despite Mumba’s claims that her husband had taken blood pressure medication and painkillers, the postmortem found no traces of these substances.
The court described the late professor Mumba as a vibrant individual who was actively writing a book until the day of his death.