Minister mourns killed daughter

Deputy Minister of Defence Jean Sendeza is in deep distress at the news of her 29-year-old daughter reportedly shot dead on Friday in Indiana, USA by her boyfriend after she called their relationship off.

The deputy minister said she got communication from authorities in USA informing her about the death of her daughter, Noria, and injuries her other daughter, Mundi, sustained.

Sendeza disclosed that the disagreements with the boyfriend to Noria, identified by international media reports as a 37-year-old Kalekeni Lindeire, also a Malawian citizen and already arrested, started about two weeks ago.

“When I learnt about these disagreements, I advised her and Mundi to report the matter to police, and they did twice. She told me the boyfriend was abusive, could beat her up and all that. I didn’t like this,” Sendeza said.

Sendeza, who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) legislator for Lilongwe South West, said she desperately wants the remains of her daughter repatriated adding she has also advised her other daughter, Mundi, to return home. 

Both, she said, were doing school.

“The body is in the hands of police. They want to conduct postmortem and do their investigations before the body is released, but it’s my desire to have the body repatriated,” Sendeza said.

The Deputy Minister of Defence said according to reports she received, the incident that led to the death of her daughter started at a car park after the boyfriend slapped her.

News was awash on social media and on some online publications in the USA regarding the death of Noria and injuries her sister, Mundi, sustained in the shooting incident.

One of the online publications, South Bend Tribune, reported that one woman was killed and another was wounded Friday afternoon as police were called to reports of shots fired near Hickory Village apartments and came upon a rollover car accident in a parking lot at Edison and Hickory roads.