APM’s bodyguard Chisale charged with murder, remanded at Maula Prison

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—The Lilongwe Magistrate Court has on Friday formally charged former president Peter Mutharika’s personal body guard Norman Chisale with murder of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director of corporate affairs Issa Njaunju.

Chisale, who is also answering other two charges of attempted murder and fraud and money laundering, has been remanded at Maula Prison pending trial.

 The case will be committed to the High Court where will take place at a later date.

Lawyer representating Chisale, Chancy Gondwe has confirmed.

“I can confirm that my client has been charged of murder offence. He has been remanded at Maula Prison pending committal of the matter to the High Court where he shall be formally charged,” he said.

Njaunju was brutally murdered in 2015. He went missing for two days before his body was found by sand miners half-buried and his official vehicle, a Toyota Hilux double-cabin pick-up, destroyed in a different direction.

Those who were arrested in connection with the murder are two police officers–Sergeant Titus Thombozi who was attached to Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) at Mchinji border, but he was operating from Mchinji Police Station and Christopher Naphiyo.

The first suspect to be arrested and charged with murder was Frank John who was found with Njaunju’s mobile phone after donors stressed that the murder was an attack on the justice system and fight against corruption.

Post-mortem results revealed that Njaunju’s body had bullet wounds in the neck and stomach.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).