Investigations have revealed that bones found with a man who was caught in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe last week belong to a person with albinism who died in Mchinji last year.
In an effort to gather evidence after the human tissues suspected to be albino bones were found with a man in Lilongwe, police exhumed the grave of a person with albinism, Spiriano Felix, in Mchinji to pave way for a forensic histopatholographic examination.
“The exercise which was done on March 14, by an expert histopathologist from Kamuzu Central Hospital was aimed at establishing links between the recovered bones and the remains of the deceased,” Mchinji Police spokesperson Kaitano Lubrino said.
Preliminary findings indicate that the recovered bones really belong to the remains of Spiriano Felix.
Lubrino told Malawi24 that Spiriano Felix died a natural death at the age of 20 in April last year and was buried traditionally in the district but his grave on May 6 same year was found tampered and exhumed by unknown criminals.
According to Lubrino, it was later discovered that his both lower legs and lower arms were chopped off from his dead body which prompted the Police to launch a manhunt for the suspects for trespassing graveyard which is contrary to section 129 of the penal code.
“Almost one year after the incident the police successfully arrested one suspect by the name of Alexander James, 24, of Mchekeni village Traditional Authority Mlonyeni in Mchinji for being found in possession of human bones,” Lubrino said.
His arrest on March 7 this year at Crossroads in Lilongwe followed a tip-off from an individual who alerted the police over the issue.
According to Lubrino, the arrest of Alexander James implicated other three suspects namely; Tsoka Faizoni who is a grandfather to the deceased, Efraim Fostino, an uncle both from Nsemwe village Sub-TA Simphasi and Ishmael Msandivute of Nkonkha village Traditional Authority Mabvere.
The suspects will among other criminal counts answer charges of trespassing on burial places for extraction or exhumation, unlawful exhumation of a human corpse, possession/selling of human tissue which follows under Anatomy Act.
So far the police have recovered right lower leg bones and lower left hand bones while a sample has been extracted for a possible DNA test to compare the two scientifically. Investigations to effect more arrests and recover the remaining missing bones are in progress.
