Gun-toting soldier found, shot dead
Malawi Defence Force (MDF) has said it is yet to establish whether or not its slain soldier Robert Banya had a psychological problem.
Banya over the weekend shot dead two colleagues in Ntcheu for reasons that are still a mystery.
The MDF corporal, who went into hiding after shooting dead fellow corporals Gift Magombo and Keston Mtambo, was shot dead on Saturday.
When asked if Banya was in the right frame of mind, MDF spokesperson Paul Chiphwanya Sunday said the MDF was not in a position to give finer details but said, they only intervene when someone is behaving strangely.
“We do not test their [soldiers’] psychological fitness every day. It is only when someone is showing signs of mental-disorder [that we subject them to tests]. He [Banya] was in Ntcheu two months ago and came back,” he said
Chiphwanya said the soldier was shot by the military police which they had deployed to hunt him down.
“We were hunting for this soldier, so yesterday [Saturday] we sent out the patrol team and fortunately they managed to locate him in Ntcheu. So when they located him, the soldier also noted that the patrol was close to him and he charged,” he said
Chiphwanya said before he acted, the patrol team managed to shoot him and was rushed to Ntcheu District Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He, however, said the late Banya will be buried as any other soldier.
