Police in Mzuzu are keeping in custody a 19-year-old young man accused of stabbing to death his 34-year-old sister.
The deceased has been identified as Esnart Tchuwa aged 34.
The suspect was reportedly staying with his sister and her two children in Mchengautuba township within Mzuzu, since the husband traveled to South Africa a couple of months ago.
During the night of Saturday, 20th February, 2021, the suspect, Anthony Tchuwa was in the house with his sister while the children had gone to sleep in their shop adjacent to the house.
Around midnight, an immediate neighbour heard a cry for help originating from the next door. This prompted her to go out on a mission to establish what had gone wrong with her neighbour. When she got there, she reportedly failed to enter the house since it was locked.
She then went back to team up with other neighbours for rescue. Upon their return, they reportedly found the door wide open and the woman laying at the sitting room in a pool of blood oozing from multiple stab wounds.
The rescue team went into the bedroom of the suspect to check if he had survived the tragedy, only to discover a knife coated with blood on his bed.
They later rushed the victim to Mzuzu Central Hospital where she was confirmed dead.
Some residents launched a search for assailants and found the suspect hiding in a nearby uncompleted house.
They apprehended him and he was later taken to Mzuzu Police Station where he was locked up and charged with murder, which infringes section 209 of the penal code and attracts a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment with hard labor.
Police are still investigating on the motive behind the brutal murder. The suspect is expected to appear before court soon.
Postmortem conducted at the Health facility indicated that woman’s death was due to severe loss of blood.
The deceased came from Thete Kalinda village, T/A Mbwana in Nkhatabay district.
