Murder cases on the rise as 794 recorded in 2022 alone and 758 in 2021

* Most of the cases were mob justice, fighting and killing of motorcycle operators and social welfare expert

By Mercy Nsaliwa, MANA

Malawi Police Service deputy public relations officer, Harry Namwanza said following the increasing numbers of murder cases in past two year, they continuing sensitising people against committing such crimes because it affects the society’s harmony.

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Just last year alone, the country registered 794 murder cases while 758 was in 2021 to 794 in 2022 but so far, the past two months of 2023, there were few cases that were recorded.

Namwanza said most of the cases were mob justice, fighting and killing of motorcycle operators and social welfare expert, Joyce Chione Jere — who is also lecturer in Social Work at Catholic University — said it is important for law enforcers to punish offenders with death penalty to deter would be offenders.

Jere attributed the rising cases of murder to poverty and high unemployment rates in the country, saying: “These cases mostly happen due to marital problems, poverty and hunger.

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“Therefore, it is essential for the country to find ways of empowering people economically so that they do not resort to committing crimes like murder,” she said.

Meanwhile, police in Ntcheu arrested three suspects this week over a series of breakings around Thewa, Geckdec, Nsipe, Kampepuza, Ntcheu Secondary School and surrounding areas in the district.

Ntcheu Police Station PRO, Sub-Inspector Rabecca Ndiwate, has identified the three suspects as Mayeso Pepesi (20), Jackson Bakali (25) and Samuel Kayekeni (21) and said: “Over the past days, criminals have been terrorising the locations by breaking into houses and shops, going away with assorted items, including plasma screens, laptops and various electrical appliances.”

Ndiwate disclosed that the suspects further led the officers to Tsangano, Mozambique where plasma screens, laptops, home theatres, invertors, mattresses, radios, cellphones, desktop computers and other assorted household items have been recovered. 

She has, however, confirmed that some of the items have been positively identified by the complainants and that I investigations are still underway as more arrests and recoveries are expected to be made.

The Police are advising people to report at the station for identification of their stolen items.—Additional reporting by Maston Kaiya, MANA