The high court in Blantyre on Thursday failed to start an inquest into the murder of a Polytechnic student Robert Chasowa, after the case was handed over to another magistrate following reshuffles at the court.

The inquest has since been moved to August 29.

Resident magistrate Innocent Nebi said he needs adequate time to prepare for the case as it has just been handed over to him following the appointment of Nyakwawa Usiwausiwa as the deputy registrar of the Blantyre high court.

Nebi said he also needs to take into consideration whether or not the state should be involved in cross examining witnesses.

The Malawi Human Rights Commission deputy director of legal services, Chrispine Siwande, who is representing Chasowa’s family, said they want the court to examine the evidence submitted, a situation that may lead to court proceeding.

They are conflicting reports on what caused the death of the polytechnic student on September 24 last year.

The police say he committed suicide, while a postmortem carried out by a College of Medicine pathologist Charles Dzamalala revealed that he was murdered.

20 witnesses including the police officers are expected to testify during the inquest.