Villagers in Dowa have damaged property worth K5.4 million including two maize milling machines after accusing the owner of killing a young man through witchcraft and keeping him in the maize mill.
Police in Dowa have since arrested three people over the incident which happened on Tuesday evening at Matekenya area Traditional Authority Msakambewa in the District.
Dowa Police spokesperson Sub Inspector Gladson M’bumpha has identified the suspects as Mickness Moses Luka (female adult), Maliko Green Chibwe, 48, and Dickson Green Chibwe, 41, all from Kachinga Village in Traditional Authority Msakambewa. 
It is reported that, the owner of the maize mill inherited it after the death of his parents.
Three weeks ago, a young man by the name of Brenda Luka died and his family started speculating that the maize mill owner bewitched him whereby he was involved in a bicycle fatal accident.
The family alleged that Brenda was being kept and propelling the maize mill up to the extent of alleging that one day they saw him coming out from the victim’s house.
Following the speculations, on Tuesday evening, the family of Brenda Luka mobilized and went to the house of the victim for confrontations.
Later, they started assaulting him and members of community policing forum intervened and rescued him for safety and he was held at the house of one of the community policing forum members.
The matter was reported at Dowa Police Station who rushed to the scene where they found that a bathroom was torched and managed to quell the blaze.
Eighteen windowpanes of the main house were damaged, two maize mills were completely burnt while 100 tins of groundnuts, 10 bags of maize and assorted clothes were stolen, all items worth K5.4 million.
The suspects have since been charged with the offence of charging a person with witchcraft contrary to Section 4 of Witchcraft Act and will appear before court soon.
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