A six-year-old boy in Dowa has died after being hit on the head with a tree branch by an epileptic patient on Monday, police have confirmed.

Mponela police Public Relations Officer, Macpatson Msadala has identified the deceased as Miracle Madalo who hailed from Kuphera village, and the suspect is Wilson Nehemiah, 26 of Mkwenya village in Senior Chief Dzoole in Dowa.

Msadala said the suspect was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2023 and has been on treatment ever since. On the material day, the suspect around 6 p.m left his home village and was seen loitering, behaving like an unsound minded individual.

“Upon reaching Kuphera village which is about 4 kilometers away from the suspect’s village, he found Madalo and his friends playing whilst the elders were attending to their gardens. The suspect then took a branch of a tree which he found on the earth road and started chasing the children.

“While some of the children managed to run into a house and closed the door, Madalo however failed to enter the house and ran to a garden where the suspect followed him. There, the suspect hit Madalo on the head with the tree branch and Madalo died on the spot,” said Msadala.

He said the matter was reported to Mponela police station and detectives accompanied by a medical officer from Mponela Rural Hospital visited the scene of crime.

Postmortem revealed that death was due to hemorrhagic shock with severe head injury, secondary to physical assault.
“Meanwhile, the suspect is in police custody and he will be taken to hospital for psychiatric assessment,” said Msadala.

Source:MANA