Suspected thief beaten to death in Lilongwe

An angry mob at Guliguli village in Lilongwe has beaten to death a man suspected to have intended to steal goats at the house of Group Village Headman Guliguli in Lilongwe.

Lilongwe Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Kingsley Dandaula, said the Group Village Headman, whose real name is Jeremia Gaston, aged 50 from T/A Kalolo in the district was awoken by a strange sound at around 1 am on May 23 and went to check as to what was happening.

Dandaula said when the suspect realized he had been discovered, he started running away with Gaston chasing after him. However when he was about to be caught, the deceased threatened to kill his pursuant.

“This prompted Gaston to shout for help and people responded by flocking to the scene. The suspect was severe beaten by the angry mob, sustained severe head injuries and died,” said Dandaula.

The spokesperson said the crime scene was visited by police and medical personnel from Kabudula Community Hospital and postmortem results confirmed that death was due to severe head injuries.

The deceased, was subsequently buried without being identified.

On this, Dandaula said people should refrain from taking the law into their own hands as such tendencies have several implications.

“The deceased was never identified and any follow up as to who might have been his accomplices, if he had any, will be difficult to establish. If such could be the case, these accomplices would still be engaging in criminal activities in their communities.

Also, it is a known fact that mob justice is against the laws of this country. Any suspect caught must be brought to police for further investigations and relevant sentencing by the courts of law,” said Dandaula.