Zomba Chief Resident Magistrate, Agness Patemba has convicted and sentenced three men in Mangochi to eight years imprisonment with hard labour for offering human tissues for sale.
The court sitting in Mangochi heard that the trio Mike Peter, Witness Mmadi and Henderson Chiwaya committed the offence on July 8 this year when they were found with the body tissues at Kera Village in the district.
Peter, 26, comes from Sikidzi Village and Mmadi, 20, hails from Duya Village both in the area of T/A Nankumbas in Mangochi while Chiwaya, 24, originates from YuleVillage in the area of T/A Ganya in Ntcheu.
Police prosecution witness, Senior Superintendent Dickens Mwambazi told the court that the incident happened at Kera Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mponda when the police arrested the three following a tip-off from members of the community.
“Your worship, Makokola Police found the said suspects offering for sale two hands of a newly born baby believed to have been exhumed from a graveyard at Sikidzi Village in Traditional Authority Nankumba’s area,” he said.
All the three pleaded guilty and admitted to the charge. The court, therefore, convicted them on their own plea of guilt.
In mitigation, they asked the court to exercise some leniency when passing sentence on the basis that they were all breadwinners for their families as such their imprisonment would victimize their dependents.
But passing sentence, Magistrate Patemba observed that the convicts deserved a custodial punishment arguing that the conduct displayed by the criminals has the potential to bring fear and insecurity to society.
“The court has arrived at the punishment considering that if left unattended the conduct could lead to lawlessness. Therefore it is of paramount importance that the court should step in to bring sanity and protect innocent citizens,” she charged.
Patemba, therefore, sentenced the three each to eight years imprisonment with hard labour, a penalty which she said was meant to protect human beings as well as deter would—be criminals.
