Mangochi man arrested for murdering ex-wife and mother in-law

MANGOCHI-(MaraviPost)-The 25-year old Stephen Sani is under Monkey-Bay police custody in the lakeshore district of Mangochi for allegedly murdering his former wife and mother in-law.

The suspect Sani committed the crime after being divorced for an offence of Murder contrary to section 209 of the penal code.

Mangochi police deputy publicist Amina Daudi identified the deceased as Annie Smoke and Annie Smoke aged 47y, the suspect’s ex-wife and mother in-law respectively.

Daudi told the Maravi post that Sani got divorced with the wife on August 5; this year after the deceased parents ended the marriage in order for her to go back to school.

The development did not please the suspect who was staying in the same village at a distance of 200 metres.

The police publicist added that on August 13, at around 1600hours both deceased left their home to see a relative at Mbapi village.

Daudi added that as they walked at a distance of 2kms, the deceased met the suspect within Funwe Farm, but it is believed that he was following them.

The suspect thereafter stopped them in order to see his two-year old child who was with the deceased wife.

Suddenly wrangles erupted, in the process the suspect produced a panga knife and hacked both of them on the neck before running away.

Few hours later, the deceased were found lying dead in the farm in a pool of blood with deep cut wounds on the neck.

The matter was reported to GVH Mtola who informed Monkey-Bay Police Post. Scene of crime was visited and postmortem conducted at Monkey-Bay Health centre revealed that death was due to severe injuries and loss of blood.

“The Police arrested the suspect and after being interrogated he confessed to have committed the crime, he has been charged with Murder and will appear before court to answer the charge which is contrary to section 209 of the penal code.

‘The police is appealing to the members of the general public to refrain from taking laws into their own hands, they should rather seek help from the Police or any other relevant formation whenever they face family issues in order to avoid committing serious crimes,” urges Daudi.

The suspect Sani hails from Kalowa village, Traditional Authority (T.A) Nankumba in Mangochi district.

Lloyd M’bwana

I’m a Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resource (LUANAR)’s Environmental Science graduate (Malawi) and UK’s ICM Journalism and Media studies scholar. Also University of Malawi (UNIMA) Library Science Scholar. I have been The Malawi Country Manager and duty editor for the Maravi Post since 2019. My duty editor’s job is to ensure that the news is covered properly, that it is delivered on time, and that it is created to the standards set out in the editorial guidelines of the Maravi Post.