Malawi High Court in Mulanje flees Mulanje witchcraft convict after successful appeal 

Mulanje. Maravi Post — The Malawi High Court Judge Mclean Kamwamba, has overturned a ruling of the lower court, in which it convicted and sentenced Eliza Davison to 10 years imprisonment with hard for a witchcraft offence.

 Mulanje Third Grade Magistrate Court, jailed Davison on 15 August, 2016 after she admitted that she inserted a fly at the back of the esophagus of her 25-year-old grandson, with a reason of preventing him from taking in food and drinking water.

Appealing the ruling with the financial assistance from the Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA), Judge Kamwamba observed that the lower court had no jurisdiction to hear the case, and argued that the maximum years the lower court can met out to a convict, is three years, and not a judicial punch of 10 years as it was the case with Davison.

“The Witchcraft convict had already spent almost half of the sentence in jail (enough to teach her a lesson),” said Kamwamba when setting her free.

In an interview, the Executive Director for the Association of Secular Humanism in Malawi George Thindwa, hailed the ruling of the High Court Judge, and said that witchcraft cases “should not be entertained.”

“The problem is that our police and our courts are witchcraft believers, and this belief is very strong here in Malawi,” he said.

Witchcraft cases in Malawi are treated with cruelty. In Neno District, residents administered mob justice to four elderly people who were accused of practicing witchcraft.