Police at Nathenje over the weekend, arrested a couple allegedly for strangling to death their 2-year-old son in order to use his body for charms to get rich, at Chikuwa Village, Traditional Authority Chitekwere in Lilongwe District.

The suspects have been identified as Ivy Elinati (mother), 25, and Mphatso Nalinde (stepfather), 25, while the deceased is Lusha David.

It is said that the couple conspired to kill their child after striking a deal with a certain Mozambican witch doctor (not yet identified), who promised them to get rich if they brought to him the boy’s dead body for charms.

Last week, the couple said their goodbyes to friends and family at the husband’s home village where they used to stay, saying they were departing for Mozambique to visit other relations.

Yet, in mind had a secret evil mission, to kill the child on their way to Mozambique as per agreement with the witch doctor.

Then, after walking some kilometers they went into the bush where they strangled the boy’s neck, to death.

However, when the couple later phoned the magician informing him that they killed the boy, and were on their way to meet him, the witch doctor excused himself saying that it should not concern him anymore, claiming that the couple flouted some necessary rituals before killing the boy, hence rendering the body useless for charms.

Chased by own shadows, the couple returned home with the dead child where they lied saying that the boy just became unconscious, and died while wrapped to his mother’s back.

However, village elders were not convinced and became suspicious which prompted them to alert the police.

Postmortem of the body by Nathenje Health Centre, revealed that death was due to suffocating, secondary to strangulation.

The couple will answer a case of murder in court.

The suspects, Ivy Elinati comes from Chimbwala Village, T/A Mlonyeni, Mchinji, while Mphatso Nalinde (stepfather), hails from Chikuwa Village, T/A Chitekwere in Lilongwe District.