When knocking on wrong door draws blood

Two boys were looking for a relative. Instead, they got more than they bargained for—and then some.

Being strangers in Blantyre’s Bangwe Township, the two young men knocked on the wrong door; got mistaken for thieves and walked straight into the gates of hell. Thanking God for small mercies, they were pulled out alive in time to tell their tale.

By then, they had had a dose of severe beatings allegedly administered by the owner of the house whose yard they walked into as well as a mob; tasted some jail time and, up close, the chilling experience of how corruption can victimise the poor and deny them justice.

The two have been identified as Madalitso Chaguluka (19) and Diston Sabuni (18) from Kasiya Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mkhumba in Phalombe.

On September 10 2014, the duo—who were staying with their relative, Dauson Mathewe in Mpingwe in Blantyre on a visit from their home village—went to see their uncle, Armson Salala.

“We knocked at the gate of one house in the neighbourhood to ask if they knew where Mr Salala lived. We got no response and we opened the gate upon which we were accused of being thieves,” explained Chaguluka.

He said they had their hands tied at their backs and were beaten severely, after which the owner of the house took them to Bangwe Police Sub-station.

Stanley Kasiya, who is currently keeping the boys, told The Nation in an interview that the house of the boys’ uncle was just next to the one they had knocked at.

“But before going to police, we decided to go to the house where the boys were beaten, to apologise because there was no ill-intention on their part.

“The man demanded that we pay back five bags of maize [which were stolen some time ago], K4 000 for fuel used to take the boys to Bangwe Police and another K4 000 he allegedly gave to police,” said Kasiya.

However, Kasiya said they paid only for fuel and refused to reimburse the rest and left for Bangwe Police. Kasiya was with Mathewe, to whom he is also related.

Mathewe said when they reached Bangwe Police, some officers there demanded K4 000 to release the boys and that when he told them he only had K1 500, he was locked up in place of the boys.

“Kasiya brought the money [K4 000] the following day, which earned my freedom,” he said.

We tried several times to talk to the man accused of beating up the boys for his side of the story, but we did not find him at home.

But the man’s wife, identified as Elida, denied that her husband beat up the boys. She said it was people from the neighbourhood who, after hearing that thieves had entered their compound, rushed to the scene and exacted mob justice on the young men.

But Kasiya said there are a number of houses within a perimeter fence where Salala lives and the boys were told to pass by the first one.

Limbe Police deputy spokesperson Pedzisai Zembeneko said police officers are not supposed to receive money from suspects and promised to investigate.

But Kasiya and Mathewe said they can identify the police officer who received the money from them.

The boys were released without charge after a night in a holding cell.