State cross-examines Briton in wife’s murder case

The State on Thursday cross-examined Mohamad Shadid Iqbal Juma in the High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe in a case where he is accused of murdering his wife.

Following his testimony in court earlier last week, he faced the State in a crossexamination where senior assistant chief State advocate Dzikondianthu Malunda asked him questions.

At some point, the suspect broke down in tears when he was shown a photograph of his wife lying lifeless on a bed alongside some clothes and a bag.

Juma, who is being accused of killing his wife Zaheera Jabar Akbanie in 2018 in Area 9 residential area in Lilongwe, told the court in his testimony that he learned about his wife’s death while in Salima.

During the exchange, the court learned that the accused was once admitted to a rehabilitation centre in India where he underwent treatment allegedly for smoking marijuana.

Malunda put it to Juma that he was a marijuana addict and that he escaped rehabilitation but vehemently denied, saying he completed a 10-week rehabilitation programme.

The court further learnt that on the night his wife got killed, he had visited her earlier on and Malunda presented to Juma that he left the house unescorted to his car, jumped over the small fence and drove off. In response, Juma also denied the claims.

The crossexamination took the whole morning after which the court adjourned and reconvened at 2:30pm when Juma was re-examined by his lawyer Andy Kaonga.

After re-examination, Kaonga called another witness, Riaz Mahomed Iqbal Juma Ghumra who said he is a senior project manager at Network Rail Ltd, in Leicester, England, and Juma’s younger brother.

He, however, did not finish giving his testimony because by 5pm, the presiding Judge Bruno Kalemba indicated it was time to adjourn to Friday, June 1 2023.