10 years in prison for possessing dead body
By Pilirani Kachinziri:
The Zomba Chief Resident Magistrate Court on Monday sentenced 28-year-old James Majawa to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour (IHL) after being found guilty of possessing a dead body of a baby.
The suspect was arrested on January 30 at Liwonde in a Central East African Railways train, which was on its way to Nayuchi Border from Balaka District.
This was after passengers got suspicious of a bag that was producing a pungent smell.
Southern Region Prosecution Officer, Christopher Katani, told the court— which was sitting in Balaka District— that Majawa first lied to the police that he took the dead body from Phalula in Balaka District but later confessed that he exhumed it from a graveyard at Malombe in Machinga District .
Majawa said he was taking the dead body to a witch doctor in Mozambique for rituals which could make him rich.
Katani said the convict was charged with three counts of trespassing a graveyard, unlawful exhumation of a human corpse and unlawful dealing in human tissue.
Majawa pleaded guilty to all the three counts.
Katani asked the court to impose a custodial sentence on Majawa because such beliefs are fuelling attacks on people with albinism.
Chief Resident Magistrate Mzondi Mvula concurred with the State and meted out a sentence of 10 years IHL. The breakdown of the sentence is as follows: 10 years for unlawful dealing in human tissues; four years for unlawful exhumation of a human corpse; and six months for trespassing a graveyard. The sentences will run concurrently.
“It is only through hard work and discipline that one can get rich,” Mvula said.
Majawa comes from Mbuwambuwa Village, Traditional Authority Nsamala, in Balaka District but was residing at Malombe in Mangochi, where he was engaged in business.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
