15 yrs IHL for robbing judge
The Blantyre Magistrate’s Court has sentenced four criminals to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour each for breaking into a house of a retired High Court judge Friday Makuta in Blantyre.
The criminals are said to have stolen assorted items worth millions of kwacha.
The robbers on March 15 2013 broke into the house of Makuta and violently stole assorted items.
The court learnt that the robbers invaded the bedroom of Makuta where they found him sleeping, and among the items they stole from there, was a gun.
Principal resident magistrate Innocent Nebi, after the court hearing, found the accused persons guilty and convicted them accordingly.
The convicts are Gift Chiwaya, 23, from Chilimani Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kumtumanje in Zomba, Chisomo Biston, 20, from Mkwate Village, T/A Mlumbe in Zomba, Jeffrey Mwanjomo, 26, from Nyamula Village, T/A Likoswe in Chiradzulu and Enock Mtali, 22, from Gowa Village, T/A Phambala in Ntcheu.
The magistrate discharged one accused person.
Nebi, sentencing the four, said the offence where they robbed the complainant violently after they broke into the house was a serious offence and needed a stiffer punishment to deter would-be-offenders.
The four mitigated that they were family persons and had responsibilities. However, the magistrate slapped them with a 15-year-jail-term each.
