Malawian man convicted of killing Zimbabwean girlfriend
A murder culprit was eventually brought to book 10 years later for the death of Linda Gasa. The High Court of Malawi convicted a Malawian man who murdered his pregnant Zimbabwean girlfriend in 2010.The High Court in Zomba yesterday convicted Misozi Chanthunya after finding him guilty on charges of murder, perjury, and concealing the dead body.
High Court judge Justice Ruth Chinangwa who has since revoked bail for Chanthunya said the State had “proved beyond a reasonable doubt” that Gasa was murdered through poisoning.According to online publication MarketWatch, Justice Chinangwa further said that the “circumstantial evidence” shows that Chanthunya killed Gasa as he was the last person seen with the deceased, who was studying at the Malawi College of Accountancy in Blantyre.The Court understood that the Chanthunya poisoned Gasa at his family’s private cottage in Monkey Bay, Mangochi, where the couple had gone to iron out their differences over a pregnancy.
After carrying out the heinous act, Chanthunya buried Gasa at the cottage where her body was later discovered entombed under concrete.Chanthunya then fled to South Africa before he was extradited back to Malawi a few years ago to be held accountable to the murder charges.During the court’s proceedings, the State’s first witness, Jessie Kachale, told the court that she last spoke to the deceased on August 4, 2010, at around 6 pm.She told the court that Gasa was her sister-in-marriage.Kachale lined up the events that happened between the day when the deceased went missing to the day of her burial.Kachale, who was in tears, also said that Gasa’s body was buried in Zimbabwe and that it was in a state of advanced decomposition.
Judge Chinangwa is expected to sentence Chanthunya next week Wednesday.The maximum sentence for a murder conviction in Malawi is the death penalty, however, capital punishment has been a controversial subject in the country for a long time.Malawi has laws that empower presidents to sign for the death penalty in murder cases. However, since attaining democracy in 1994, no president has ever signed the death penalty and in worst cases, most sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment.
