A six-year-old boy in Dowa has died after being assaulted with a log on his head by an epileptic patient.
The deceased has been identified as Miracle Madalo, who hailed from Kuphera village, while the suspect has been identified as Wilson Nehemiah, 26, who hails from Mkwenya village. Both are from Senior Chief Dzoole in the Dowa District.
According to Macpaston Msadala Mponela Police PRO, the incident occurred on December 30, 2024, at around 07:00 hours at Kuphera Village.
It is said that the suspect is epileptic of which the disease was discovered in the year 2023 and has been on treatment since then.
Msadala noted that, on December 30, 2024, around 06:00 hours, the suspect left his home village, Mkwenya and was just loitering, behaving as a person of unsound mind.
“Upon reaching Kuphera village, which is about 4 kilometres away from the suspect’s village, he found Madalo playing with his friends whilst the elders were busy in their gardens”.
“He took a branch of a tree which he found on the earth road and started chasing the children. Some of the children managed to run into the house and close the door, while Madalo failed to enter the house and ran to the garden, where the suspect followed him. The suspect hit Madalo on his head with a tree branch and died on the spot,” explained Msadala.
The matter was reported to Mponela Police Station, and detectives, accompanied by a medical officer from Mponela Rural Hospital, visited the scene of the crime.
Postmortem was conducted, and death was pronounced as due to Haemorrhagic shock with severe head injury secondary to physical assault.
Meanwhile, the suspect is in police custody and he will be taken to hospital for psychiatric assessment.
💔💔