Dave Tsogolera
Malawi Police are reportedly shielding a Lebanese citizen who is said to have shot his Malawian worker in cold blood.
The police are said to have even arrested the worker in order to save the shooter.
Malawi Police Service Public Relations Officer Peter Kalaya has released a statement in which the law enforcers appear to defend Lebanese national Rabiah Akar.
It was reported on social media last weekend that a man identified as Dave Tsogolera was shot by his own boss.
According to the man’s account as shared on the Facebook page of musician Kalawe, he told his boss that the lock to a warehouse at their shop was damaged and needed to be forcibly removed and replaced.
Tsogolera who was working as a security guard was tasked with finding welders to do the work. He informed his boss that he had found the welders and they were outside the warehouse with tools to remove the lock.
While they were waiting, another person of Asian origin found them and disagreements ensued. The other boss told Akar that there was a group of people at the warehouse with tools but Akar reportedly told the other person that he knew about the group.
The welders later left after getting tired of waiting for Akar and Akar invited Tsogolera to his house.
According to Tsogolera, at the house, on Jul 31, he was first to arrive and when Akar arrived, he briefly spoke to his wife and later took a gun, something which did not surprise Tsogolera because he knew about the gun.
Akar then told Tsogolera to get into his car and after they got out of Akar’s compound, Akar allegedly took the gun and pointed it to Tsogolera’s head.
“I got frightened and bowed my head as such Akar’s bullet missed my head. I managed to get out of the vehicle and while I was running away, Akar shot several times and a bullet hit my leg.
“However, I managed to climb over a fence of a neighboring house. There, a woman gave me water to wash my wound and I used my shirt to stop the blood,” Tsogolera said.
He later used a bicycle taxi to go to police and report the incident but surprisingly he found Akar at the same police station where Akar had reported that he (Akar) shot a suspected criminal and the criminal had run away.
According to Tsogolera, Akar reported that he knew the suspected criminal’s girlfriend and Police arrested Tsogolera’s girlfriend.
At the police station, Tsogolera found his girlfriend in a police cell. This was on July 31 and she was released the next day.
Tsogolera himself was taken to hospital before being arrested by the same police for four days from July 31 over the criminal charges.
“However, Akar was not arrested by police. The law enforcers only confiscated Akar’s gun and licence,” said Tsogolera.
Meanwhile, Malawi Police have appeared to defend Akar by claiming that the account as shared on social media is a misrepresentation of facts.
In a statement today, Police spokesperson Kalaya said two cases were opened in relation to the incident and both have already been brought before court.
“The first case is that of acts intended to cause grievous harm whose complainant is Tsogolera and the suspect is Mr. Akar. It came before court on August 9, 2022 and Mr. Akar, whose licensed firearm has been confiscated by the police, was granted court bail. Its hearing will proceed on August 30, 2022,” said Kalaya.
He added that the second case is that of breaking into a building with intent to commit a felony therein whose complainant is Akar and the suspects are Tsogolera and five others.
“The five, who later implicated Tsogolera were arrested at the scene of the crime by police officers on patrol. The case came before court on August 5, 2022 where all suspects were granted court bail and it was adjourned to August 19,” said Kalaya.
