Teacher wants justice over stolen cash at ATM

A Dowa primary school teacher has accused police prosecutors in Lilongwe  of trying to suppress a case involving a man who stole the teacher’s money five years ago.

The suspect in the case cashed K100,000 from the teacher’s account at a Malawi Savings Bank’s ATM in Lilongwe old town in September, 2013.

The accusation is coming at a time when the police at the Lilongwe station have failed to trace a questioning statement file to proceed with the case at the Lilongwe magistrate court.

Justice delayed and denied have been the order of the day since September, 2013 when the case was reported at the Lilongwe police station with the suspect arrested and brought before court.

The teacher (name withheld) speaking in an interview, said on 6th September, 2013, he discovered when he wanted to withdraw some cash at the Dowa MSB branch that money had been cashed out of his account on 3rd and 4th September, 2013 at Lilongwe game ATM and MSB head office ATM respectively.

He said he reported the matter to the Lilongwe MSB head office  where he was told by the Bank’s Operation Manager a Mr. Nsangalufu that the bank is not liable to pay back money to the teacher. The bank employee also accused the teacher him of cashing the money by himself.

“A CCTV footage was provided through the Bank’s clerk, a Mr. Rozario which was put in a flash to the Lilongwe police station’s CID office where the suspect was identified as Alfred Khomba, a businessman residing at Area 18A in Lilongwe.

“The suspect was apprehended by the police where he admitted that he was the person in the CCTV footage,” the teacher said.

In November, 2013, the Magistrate court sitting at Lilongwe which was presided over by Senior Resident Magistrate Beza, found the accused person, Alfred Khomba to have a case to answer.

The teacher said since then, he  received no communication from the police on how the case was progressing expressing fears that justice will not be prevailed in the case as both Nsangalufu and Rozario are no longer MSB bank employees.

He also expressed doubts as to whether the CCTV footage was played in court  as part of evidence sayng if not something strange might have happened as the prosecutor who handled the case was replaced by a Senior prosecutor with reasons best explained by the police themselves.

Meanwhile, the teacher has been informed that the case will on 19th December,2017 return to the Lilongwe magistrate court after issuing a threat that his next destination is to meet the Inspector General of Police at the police headquarters in Lilongwe.