An angry mob on Wednesday evening descended on a man suspected of defiling and murdering his 3 year old step daughter in Mchinji.

Mchinji Police Public Relations Officer Inspector Kaitano Lubrino confirmed of the development in an interview with the state owned Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and identified the suspect as Boyd Sakala.

“Boyd Sakala is alleged to have defiled and murdered the step daughter after his wife went to Mchinji trading centre to sell mangoes leaving the daughter behind under the care of the step father.” Said Lubrino.

Lubrino further said that when the mother of the child arrived back from the market she found that both the suspect and the daughter were away. To the woman’s surprise it was only the husband who came back and this made the woman to go around and search for the missing daughter and this yielded nothing. She then reported the matter to the community policing members which later arrested the father on suspicion that he had knowledge.

When the community police took the suspect to the police, The suspect jumped into Bua river and swum to the the other side and escaped. It is reported that he went to her sister in the neighbouring traditional authority area where he was hiding before being re arrested.

The body of the child was found buried in the field on 13 February after a joint search by the police and members of the community. Postmortem conducted by Mchinji district hospital revealed that the baby was defiled before she was gruesomely murdered by the suspect.

“The suspect was re arrested on 5 march evening by the members of the community who started assaulting him only to be rescued by the police. He is currently admitted at Mchinji district hospital where he is receiving treatment.” Explained Lubrino.