The High Court sitting at Blantyre has acquitted Anna Pitikesi who was suspected of manslaughter in 2018 and was facing life imprisonment.

The incident took place in Namowa Village, T/A Jema in Mulanje district on 6th January 2018 when Anna Pitikesi saw her brother Isaac Pitikesi strangling her 6-year-old daughter. To rescue the little girl, Anna ran and hit Isaac with a stick, causing him to fall and die.

When arrested, she sought legal aid and was represented by Principal Legal Aid Advocate James Tate Chiundira.

In Court, the State paraded five witnesses to prove that an offence of manslaughter was indeed committed. In its arguments, the State was telling the Court that Anna killed her brother using the excessive force of “musi wa mtondo”.

On the determination of whether the accused had a case to answer or not, the Bureau through Counsel Chiundira submitted that Anna had no choice but to hit Isaac in defence of her daughter who was being strangled.

Among the five State witnesses that were paraded, only one of them saw the incident happen and she agreed with the Bureau in cross-examination that the accused had to hit the deceased to save the little girl.

She also explained that the deceased had been chased from his matrimonial home because he was a violent and sometimes mentally unstable man. His wife had chased him because she was scared he would kill her one day.

High Court Judge Justice Vikochi Chima agreed with submissions from the Bureau and therefore found Anna Pitikesi with no case to answer. Anna, who has been on bail since 2019, is now a free woman.