21 years jail term for albino abductor
Zomba Resident Magistrate’s Court sitting in Mangochi on Friday convicted and sentenced 44-year-old Jafali Ligomba to 21 years imprisonment for an offence of abducting with intent to murder.
According to Mangochi Police Public Relations Officer Rodrick Maida, the court heard that Ligomba connived with 49-year-old Samson Alison to abduct a four-year-old boy with albinism with an aim of killing him.
The incident happened at Tumbwe Village in Traditional Authority (TA) Namabvi in Mangochi on November 20 2017.
“Their mission was accomplished when the mother of the victim left the boy in the hands of her mother [grandmothers] and went to attend a funeral in one of the nearby villages. The victim is nowhere to be seen up to date,” Maida said.
Appearing before the court, Ligomba pleaded not guilty, thereby prompting the state to parade six witnesses to testify.
In his submission, Police Prosecutor Dickens Mwambazi prayed for a stiff penalty as the conduct of the convict is inhuman and cannot be condoned in society.
In mitigation, the convict asked the court to be lenient as he is a breadwinner.
But Senior Resident Magistrate Chamdimba Nkhata said the conduct of the convict put the lives of people with albinism in danger, hence needed a custodial sentence to separate him from the community.
Jafali hails from T/A Namabvi in the district.
Malawi has registered over 150 cases of abductions and killings of people with albinism in the past three years.
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