The High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe has set October 30 2024 to deliver the sentence for Annie Mumba who was convicted in June of murdering her husband Peter Mumba in April 2020.
Initially, the sentencing was set for July 25 2024, but it was postponed to October 30 2024, according to a notice of adjournment we have seen.
Directorate of Public Prosecutions director of criminal litigation Dziko Malunda confirmed the new sentencing date in an interview on Friday.
The convict was found guilty of unlawfully causing the death of her husband, a professor of chemistry at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, between April 24 and 25, 2020, at Area 38 in Lilongwe, with malice aforethought.
In his earlier ruling, Judge Mzondi Mvula said that evidence suggested the widow deliberately delayed seeking medical assistance for her sick husband.
According to the court, Professor Mumba died two hours before he was taken to the hospital.
Judge Mvula questioned: “Why not rush the deceased to the hospital despite observing that he was growing faint and weak?”
The court also scrutinised the widow’s character, saying that she failed to allocate funds for an autopsy to rule out foul play. Instead, she promptly upgraded her husband’s coffin to a casket.
Postmortem results, requested by concerned family members, revealed that Mumba died from acute poisoning.
