Man arrested over daughter’s shooting

A 37-year-old man is in police custody in Mzimba for allegedly shooting his seven-year-old daughter on the thigh with a muzzle loader.

Mzimba Police station officer Ernest Mazingaliwa said Yoweli Banda, from Kamtalala Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Khosolo in the distict, was arrested on Tuesday following a tip-off from a clinician who operated on the victim at Mzimba District Hospital.

After the alleged shooting, Banda took the girl to Khosolo Health Centre where he told medical personnel that she had been injured while playing with friends.

However, the cat was let out of the bag when the girl was referred to Mzimba District Hospital.

“The clinician who operated on the girl found remains of two bullets inside the girl’s thigh and he reported the matter to police,” said Mazingaliwa.

He said police seized Banda’s muzzle loader.

“There are conflicting reports. The father says the girl was playing with a muzzle loader and accidently shot herself, while neighbours are saying the father accidently shot the girl,” said Mazingaliwa.

He said Banda has been charged with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a muzzle loader. n

21 Congolese detained in Mwanza

Police in Mwanza recently detained 21 Congolese refugees who escaped from Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa and were stranded after police in Mozambique stopped them from passing through the country.

Mwanza Police spokesperson Victoria Chirwa told Malawi News Agency (Mana) that the refugees, who included five children, were travelling to their country through Mozambique.

“Upon entering Mozambique, they met Mozambican police officers who sent them back to Malawi. Unfortunately, they had no means of reaching Dzaleka Refugee Camp and were just wandering around the boma,” said Chirwa.

She said Mwanza Police handed them over to the Department of Immigration to take them back to Dzaleka.

In another development, Mwanza Police on Wednesday arrested 20 people for allegedly trying to pass through the border illegally.

“We discovered that they had just been dropped off by a certain vehicle so that they pass through both the border and road block on foot. They wanted to board the vehicle again after passing through these two check points,” said Chirwa.

She said officers were surprised that the group had stamped passports, “yet, the passports are stamped at the boarder after being checked.”

She said police have sent the passports to Immigration to ascertain their authenticity.

Chirwa said the suspects would answer the charge of forging an official stamp, which is contrary to Section 358 of the Penal Code.